by Bill Parks

Created on: May 22, 2009

Understanding the Proper Role of Government

The proper roles of government are well defined and spelled out in Preamble of the Constitution. The intent of those few phrases is to state the purpose, goals and objectives of the American government. The success or failure of our government can be measured in terms of the ideas declared in this section of the Constitution.

The Preamble reads. "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

Although these functions will be addressed individually in this article, in practice, they function together like the ingredient in a well-crafted meal.

Our government's first duty is to create a nation of citizens, inculcating a common identity, growing a community concerned about the well-being of all its members, fostering a feeling of belonging to the United States of America: 'united we stand' in prosperity as well as crisis. Our national history, our art, our collective culture and our shared social values, bear directly upon who we are and how our government in turn enacts our laws as part of the process to "form a more perfect union." "We the people" are not just a collection of unrelated individuals in a 'mob'; we are citizens of the United States of America. In fact, we are America.

Like air, water and food, Justice is an absolutely essential element of human existence. In the quest for justice, people have been known to spend their fortunes, sacrificing their lives, even sending nations to wars when it is denied. Justice is so central to our nation's legitimacy that an independent branch of our government is dedicated to its administration. Lawyers spend years and sizable fortunes in preparation, studying the law, learning rules of evidence, mastering the skills of argument for the opportunity to argue cases in court. Elaborate rules for collecting evidence, strict procedures for court room presentation, constitutional guarantees to guard against self-incineration, ridged limits on double jeopardy and intricate judicial reviews are built into the justice system insuring a fair and just hearing of both criminal and civil cases.

Without a peaceful community, or a sense of security within our neighborhoods, life would be difficult,

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