Matt+and+Steven

=The 5 Purposes of Government= The government today serves 5 main purposes:
 * Provide national defense
 * Maintain order
 * Provide public services
 * Protect rights of individual people
 * Direct economic decision making

==

Provide National Defense
The government has the job to protect our country from other bad countries that want want to attack us. This is why the country has to maintain an army, a navy, an air force, and coast guard. The government also has to provide weapons for these forces to defend us properly. Also in addition to protecting our nation from attacks, the government has to handle deals made with other nations. Our national government has the power to make treaties with other nations which provides the nation's economic security. So our nation has to provide the country with security against attacks from other countries and also economic security which is pretty complex.

Maintain Order
Many problems occur in a country, people disagree with others, the others start a conflict and things get quite messy. These conflicts though, are an inevitable part of life. The government provides ways of solving out these problems in a more orderly fashion such as in a court and they also make people do things they wouldn't do on voluntarily such as paying taxes or serving in the army. The government controls and contains conflict between people by putting limits to what they can do. It gives them law and order. A good government lets its people plan for the future, have an education, and live a normal and happy life.

Provide Public Services
One of the most important purposes of the government is to provide services that make community life possible and promote well being. Government undertakes projects the individuals could not or would not do by themselves such as building sewer systems.The government also provides essential services by making and enforcing laws the make better public health and safety. An example of this are government inspectors, these inspectors check for safety regulations in food, air, water and roads to ensure a good healthy living. These acts would not be done by individuals so that is why the government needs to work to accomplish this.

Protect rights of individual people
The government wants the people who live in our country to have the most peace and comfort that they can have. The decisions and actions that are made by the government are made with us Americans in mind. But the government cant treat any one better, because all people have the right to be equal. The bill of rights is something the government sticks to to provide us these individual rights that everyone deserves in this country.

Direct economic decision making
Many nations are different in the way that they are able to provide their citizens with economic opportunities. No country though, is able to provide its citizens with everything they need and desire. Even in the rich countries. Scarcity affects many countries, some more than others. Material scarcity is often the cause of problems. Some countries have very very rich people next to very poor people and this has been the cause of many revolts against the government. The government uses its power to to reduce this cause by intervening in the economic system. The government does not only intervene in its own economic problems, but it also may intervene on the problems of other nations and helping them out in problems such as wars. Governments also make choices as to how to distribute goods and services to the people. The government usually tries to stimulate economic growth with all the decisions by controlling inflation, encouraging trade, and regulating the development of natural resources.