Government Plays In The Lives Of Americans example essay topic

For many years the federal government of the United States has employed a number of methods to assist it's citizens solve their various problems. Whether economic or social, foreign or domestic the federal government has a network of specialized offices; officers and bureaucracy equipped to handle whatever problems may arise in the lives of the American citizen. The painstaking task of developing a system capable of dealing with over 260 million people was neither perfect in it's development nor problem free in it's execution. The current system of government is the product of several hundred years of trial and error, applied theoretical concepts and good old-fashioned hard work.

At any rate, these are the basic elements that which have allowed the government to assist in the lives of the governed. A brief historical overview is necessary for one to fully understand how the government helps us today. At the beginning of US history the federal government did not exist; however, the first act of federal assistance came when the new states banned together to provide freedom from what they viewed as oppressive British rule. As a result the foundation was laid for the creation of a new nation, one that for many years to come would take an unprecedented role in the way the government and the governed interacted with each other. The mere creation of the constitution was in and of itself a means that the government would use to help people because it gave them a voice and it in it's very nature made the government responsible to the people. The phrase "We the People", in the Preamble of the United States Constitution, made the US constitution the most radical document of it's time because no other sovereign nation had ever granted authority to those which it rules.

This meant that the founders expected the government to play an active role in the lives of its citizens. The next major example of government intervention took place during the time period of the America Civil War. During a time when a large number of people were living in the United States as slaves and were also unable live in freedom, the country split down the middle. The dispute arose partially on the question of did the federal government have the right to assist blacks and their very serious problem of oppression. The civil war presented the first serious challenge to the authority of the government to regulate certain ways of behavior in the United States. Once the Emancipation Proclamation was signed the current trend of government involvement in individual affairs was in effect fused into the American way of life.

Although the government helped an entire ethnic group of people overcome oppression it also was instrumental in the mass annihilation of another group. In an attempt to solve white people's problem of not having enough valuable land the government responded with the systematic destruction of hundreds of Native American tribes. Relocation, treaty and flat out genocidal tactics were used to help white Americans pioneer the American frontier and settle the eastern seaboard. Ironically, today the government helps the few descendants of the native Americans by giving the small areas of land and allowing them to run gambling casinos upon the land. No government is perfect. We can see from the early challenges that those running the government would face difficulties in catering to the needs of the people.

In modern day America the tasks that the government faces are no less difficult to deal with than the ones dealt with years ago. Today technological advances such as e-mail; telecommunications and faster travel have helped improve the methods, which with the government can effectively deal with problems. For example the advent of e-mail has enabled college students to fill out financial aid applications over the internet thus lessening the amount of time spent on filling out long and often complicated paper applications. The government also plays a vital role in the home lives of many individuals. Welfare programs such as Aid to Families with Dependant Children, Head Start and others are a way that the government attempts to give lower income families the assistance they need to meet the demands of every day living. The federal government spends millions of dollars a year to insure that people can eat and supplement their income if they are unable to obtain "good" jobs.

Although education is not guaranteed by the constitution, the government uses its tax base to pay for the education of all of its youth. In addition, for those who wish to pursue education beyond high school there are a number of government assistance programs designed to help finance further education. Unfortunately there exist a large number of people who believe that the role the government plays is too large. Often time's wealthy businessmen, political leaders and landowners try to limit the role that the government plays in the lives of Americans.

However, they sometimes fail that the government helps them as well. Big businesses benefit from government regulations that prevent monopolies from forming and that allows them to relocate their industry to countries to exploit cheap labor (which is clearly detrimental to many working class Americans). In essence the government help solves the wealthy's problem of having to share and compete for the resources, which makes them wealthy. For Instance, in 1988, General Motors was not penalized for closing plants in Michigan, putting several thousand Americans out of work, so that they could relocate to Mexico ("Roger and ME", 1989). The government also helped the tobacco giant Phillip Morris by threatening economic sanctions against small Asian countries that attempted to ban Morris' tobacco products from their country.

In conclusion, the government stretches itself in many different directions in an attempt to give some level of satisfaction to most of its people. The reality is that one person's gain will ultimately be the source of someone else's loss. However, this government will never be able to solve all of the problems which her it's citizens face but it does the best job it can considering the fact that political affiliation often times limits it's effectiveness.