For any government to function well ethics and morals must form the very foundation of the government. Actually, under normal circumstances, the government is required to guarantee a safe and just society where harmony exists. As such all forms of government are mandated to not only to establish but also enforce moral and ethical standards to ensure that the society functions properly. However, within any society composed of diverse groups of people, one might wonder how the government goes about making moral and ethical decisions or policies which is in line with every member of the society. This could beg the question whether the government’s purpose is more of a moral police, to prevent evil from happening or it is responsible for producing a virtuous society with virtuous citizens (Ebeling, 2016). This essay is going to address what in my opinion I believe to be the role of the government and some of the challenges government faces while governing a diverse society with diverse morals.
Decision making or rather formulation of laws and policies and the subsequent enforcement of the same is one of the chief purposes of the government. The law and policies formulated usually represents the will of its people mirroring their own cultural and ethical perceptions of reality. As such a government is tasked with the duty of enforcing ethical and moral values of the people which it governs. This role of the government can further be explained as that of accomplishing the society’s view of reality as embodied in their ethical and moral values (Cremer, Mayer & Shminke, 2010). To this point, we find that the role of government in enforcing laws which are in line with morals and ethical view of its people is a bit complex as they are not able to enforce all the moral and ethical considerations of its people. Nevertheless, the government still remains as the main upholder of people’s values and as such also controls its society as it chooses which laws; morals and values, to enforce and which neglect.
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To further expound on the role of the government regarding ethics and morality, one should focus more government instrument of power which is the law. The law is main guide of how a government operates and functions. Furthermore, the law is usually an embodiment or a product of people’s cultural, ethical and moral views. As such, despite the fact that the law might not be the picture-perfect instrument of enforcing ethical and moral values, it still remains the government’s main tool in stemming unprincipled practices and immorality. Through the use of laws, the government provides a roadmap to its people towards a just and ethical society (Bentham, 200). Besides, for citizen to affirm the quest of a just society, they are requires to follow and obey the provisions of the law hence through use of laws, a government is enabled to unite its people bringing forth peace and harmony among its diverse people. In the event that one fails to conform to the rule of law, that person will be considered as a criminal, a breaker of the established rules, standards and regulation hence punishable. As such, we can describe the law as people’s will that is enforced by the government.
Once the government has discharged its duty of an impartial formulator and enforcer of societal values and morals i.e. laws, the second role which follows is that of being an active player in its people’s lives and affairs. This role can be further broken down into several subsets of different roles that government play within a society such ensuring safety of its citizens and provision of basic services to its people. Here we find that the government is able to use its legitimized power of compulsion and coercion to control how members of its society live work and associate (Ebeling, 2016). As a result, we find governments have always tried to assure certain results or outcomes or even forms of conduct considered necessary and desirable by the political class in authority. Up to this point, I still concur with Augustine’s arguments that government cannot produce a virtuous society as they have the capability to be sinful themselves. I reiterates what he said that the purpose of government is more or less to restrain evil depending on what is deemed evil by the political class of the society.
Ebeling (2016) states that concerning the government’s role of formulating and enforcing laws based on the people’s perceived ethical, cultural and moral values the government faces quite a ton of challenges. This challenge is brought and expounded by the fact that laws does not fully represent the ethical and moral standards of everyone within a society. As such, I believe that people’s perception, especially within a diverse community with diverse moral, ethical and cultural backgrounds, is one of the greatest challenge if not threat to this government role. At any given time, any parameter deemed legal could be viewed by others as unethical or a violation to moral standards. A classic example of this is abortion. In spite of the fact that abortion could be legalized by a government, the issue still remains a controversial ethical topic challenging the laws formulated by the government. The good example is that of promiscuity and divorce which could be allowed by governments but still considered as immoral or unethical by a section of the society. These conflicts are a sure sign that law is not a sufficient tool of enforcing ethical and moral values and to some extent, the government could be failing in their mandate to serve its people. It still remain a big challenge for governments to ensure a just society through enforcement of law, its central role.
Within the US political circle, diversity has always been championed as a strength of America’s democracy. However, the same political class or the government administrations are fond of complaining that the county’s array of diversity usually makes it difficult for the government to reach consensus necessary for democratic action. Which is to say that government at times usually choose to coarse or bully its people into following and accepting some of the policies they implement (Kew, 2012). Things like region and ethical diversity have been found to present several government with challenges when it comes to their role of formulating and enforcing laws.
According to Bentham, the main reason why diversity present a serious challenge to several government is that there are certain aspects of morals and ethics which cannot be legalized and within a diverse community this challenge is exponentially compounded. Indeed we have seen that morals and ethics within a community plays an important role in the formulation of the society’s laws. While ethics refers to values that makes a society better, morals run much deeper anchoring of factors like spirituality and religion. Within a less diverse community, a government will find it easier to enforce ethical standards ensuring that everyone operates within the stipulated laws. However, within a diverse community with diverse values, this role of government will be difficult to achieve if they have to consider the ethical and moral values of each and single diverse group. Not all aspects of moral and ethics of these different groups of people can be legal. Though good, diversity to a greater extent complicates matters for a government. The government will find it quite difficult to formulate an all-inclusive law that considers the beliefs and religious aspects of all the different diverse groups (2000).
In conclusion, I believe that the government main responsibility is that making relevant decision for its people, being the main custodian of the society’s moral and ethical values. All this is to ensure that there is order and justice in the country. However since these policies are formulated within the political system of the country which has the capability of being self-centered, I cannot refute the fact that the main responsibility of the government is to simply to restrain evil.
References
Bentham, J. (2000). An introduction to the principles of morals and legislation . Kitchner: Batoche Books.
Cremer, D., Mayer, D & Shminke, M. (2010). On Understanding Ethical Behavior and Decision Making: A Behavioral Ethics Approach . 2010 Business Ethics Quarterly 20:1 (January 2010); ISSN 1052-150X
Ebeling, R (2016). What is the Role of Government in Society? Retrieved from http://capitalismmagazine.com/2016/02/role-government-society/
Kew, D (2012). Democracy’s Diversity Problem . Retrieved from http://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/2012/09/24/democracys-diversity-problem/ideas/up-for-discussion/
