Assignment #2

The purpose of government includes three things: to maintain order, to protect private property, and to provide public goods. Government is really needed to keep control of the people- since anarchy will take over wherever government is not(and anarchy is chaos, and chaos is bad). According to the book, politics is 'the struggle over who gets hat, when, how".  Personally, I feel that politics impedes the government's primary purposes.  The goal of politics, also according to the book, is to have a share, or influence, in the government and its policies.  Politics, though, only leads to competition between opposing viewpoints and perspectives.  And, since government seems to be taken over by politics, this competition is not always good for the government itself.  Competition between political parties and/or members of government takes the focus away from the primary goals of the government and puts the focus on an individual's goal to gain more power.  Even if the individual is trying to gain more 'rights' for the good in one perspective, it is almost impossible to please everyone.  Government cannot exist without politics, but politics can be a hindrance to a successful government.