What is the primary responsibility of the government?

Adam Smith said that the primary responsibility of government is to maintain Justice because without it, markets fall apart. 'Justice' is a rather vague virtue. read more

The Federal government's primary responsibilities are to defend all the states from attack, to regulate business among the states, and to not make any rules regarding religion. They have obviously broken their orgininal rules to the point that, today, the Fed can do just about what it wants to. read more

Applying Occam's Razor harshly to the broad concept of government, the primary responsibility of government is to stay in power. No matter what the type of government, staying in power provides the necessary level of stability for a society to function. read more

The primary purpose should always be, in my view, to protect rights and freedom, but reality and human nature require government to develop additional purposes - such as protecting such values as the rule of law, justice and equal opportunity. read more