In America, the government is supposed to be of, by, and for the people; but the very things that this government does, presupposes that there is little truth that the government actually performs for the people what it should or ought to be doing. Rather, governments have a very strong tendency to gravitate to accruing more and more power over time, typically at the expense of the people, and furthermore, utilizing that power for the benefit of those that are the actuators of that government, as well as for those that are the functionaries of that elite for their service to them.
It is well to remember that the reason why governments are formed to begin with, is to protect the unalienable rights that each one of us is born with, to promote the general welfare and happiness of those people, and to join together into one body politic so as to protect the country from enemies, foreign and domestic. In other words, good governance, makes for a society in which the people are justly and fairly treated, provides those people with good opportunity to become something of merit through quality education and gainful employment, while also helping to create the infrastructure that encourages the people to work together to make for the improvement and the enhancement of that society, ultimately, for the greater benefit of those people. Further, governments are needed in order to assure that some sort of “fair play” is always taken into consideration, so that one faction, of the few and select, does not come to dominate the majority, by essentially “gaming the system” so that these favored few, rule the roost, so to speak, and thereby leaving just the scraps for the general public to fight over.
So then, it is important that the government has the power to enforce the laws, to enforce the rules and regulations, and in general, to see to it that what needs to be done in order to have a vibrant civilized society, is so done. Not too surprisingly, to accomplish that, does take to a certain extent, the usage of the “big stick,” but such should be done in a manner that does not oppress the people, unduly; for far too many countries are prone to utilizing the policing and military arm of their respective government, to keep the people in their place, which clearly is indicative of an “us vs. them” mentality – as opposed to acknowledging that legitimate complaints and concerns, necessitates the courtesy of that government actually listening to the people and thereby responding to those people in a meaningful and constructive way.
In today’s world, far too many governments have aggrandized onto themselves incredible powers, both explicit and implicit, as well as gathering reams upon reams of actionable information about the individual people that they ostensibly are supposed to serve. When that governmental power is further enhanced by their coordination with the biggest multinational corporations that the world has ever known, joined together in their common cause, so as to exploit, to control, and to primarily benefit these specific entities at the expense of the people – we then are living within a construct in which that government does not represent the people, but rather is an agency, which effectively answers to no one, and of which those people, therefore, are not free but are, in effect, servants to that power.