What is the role of government in social matters
Answers
Answer:
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed”
The role of government is to secure our unalienable rights leaving society free to deal with social issues.
The oppressive left are not happy with this simple concept. They want social issues imposed on society using force of government. This has led to the corruption of government with everyone competing for control of power and money. That is exactly the opposite of the USA framers’ intent. This is why so many politicians become millionaires while in power.
Historically government had a limited role - with such things as education, healthcare, poverty relief and old age being matters mainly (not totally - but mainly) for Civil Society (voluntary association both secular and religious). It is true that England and Wales had taxation for a “Poor Law” from Tudor times, but it was limited by modern standards - and most of Scotland did not have it till 1845. In France it was much later.
However, government has come to have a dominant role in these matters in most Western countries. Today whenever there a problem (from housing to healthcare) the first question asked is “what is government going to do about it?” Whether one thinks this change is a good thing or a bad thing depends on one’s political beliefs.
As for how people live,,….. well (for example) marriage was a matter for the churches in England and Wales up to 1836 when government marriage was invented, and even then “Civil Marriage” was quite rare for many years. Even criminal prosecutions were largely private till the 1870s (and private prosecutions still existed even after this), and government police forces were not compulsory in counties in England and Wales till 1856.
Such things as the provision of roads the Turnpike Trusts of the 18th and early 19th centuries) and water and so on, were considered private matters in most of England and Wales till (basically) the Victorian Age. I think that Manchester was the first city in England where all the basic utilities came under local government ownership - but I could be mistaken.