Ethics

I. Introduction
One of the important aspects of the society is the presence of the government. The people and the society rely on the government and its effective functioning. The people and the society believe there is something that the government is expected of which would contribute to the well-being of the society and the people. In the analysis of history, it is noticeable how different leadership in different countries produces governments that are characterized by how they are different from one another, largely through the comparison on how the government responds to its roles, obligations and responsibilities in the society. Some governments are considered as bad governments because they failed in fulfilling their obligations. Others are considered as good or ideal governments based on how they respond positively to the roles and obligations society and the people expected them to undertake. The government influences significantly what happens in the society and impacts the lives of many people based on how the government performs its roles and fulfills its obligations.

Indeed, the government has many different roles to fulfill. The fulfillment of such roles can be viewed via the analysis of the different obligations the government is expected to handle, particularly two important social obligations namely practical and ethical obligations. The objective of this paper is to identify the role of the government, focusing the discussion on several different important aspects of this topic which include the fulfillment of the social obligations of the government, the role of government with regards to its practical obligations and ethical obligations, the analysis of the role of the government and the need for appropriate actions and the role of the government and the optimal ethical, decision-making processes.

II. Discussion
Fulfilling the social obligations of the government
The government is a social entity which is bestowed with great powers because of the responsibilities that is placed on the government so that the government can fulfill what is considered as social obligations. The social obligations refer to the obligations of the government to the society, to which it is answerable to, to which service should be rendered by the government. The social obligations includes two important sets of obligations  first, the practical obligations, and secondly, the ethical obligations. The government is responsible for making sure that the society is maintained in such a way that it is productive, effective, sound and healthy. The government can do this if, in its part, it can deliver its social obligations. The governments failure to fulfill its social obligations can result to the breakdown in the social life in different spheres. Productivity will be affected and the state of life will deteriorate. The people will lose hope in the leadership of its government and will rely on themselves for survival and self preservation, the society unable to construct a sense of order among its people and their life.

Role of government practical obligations
One of the important roles of the government is how it should function to accomplish its practical obligations. By practical obligations it means the focus is centered on the government providing for things that have practical purpose in the life of the people. This is important because this includes many different important things and affects many different social spheres. The idea of practical obligation and the role of the government is that the government is created out of necessity. There is a need that the concept of government can and should accomplish. The undertaking of such task and set of responsibilities for the government as an entity in the society is what defines the role of government when it comes to practical obligations.

Practical obligations as part of the essential set of roles that the government should undertake are also the aspect by which the government is judged for its effectiveness or lack of. Through the presence of the practical obligations of the government, the people are given the tool to use so that they can assess, analyze, scrutinize and see if the government is working and is functioning as expected. The inability of the government to perform its practical obligations can help the people identify and determine whether or not the government is not suitable for the lifestyle of the society, It can also determine if the government is not in sync with the present conditions, or if the government needs to be changed when it comes to leadership and policies and policy implementations and actions so that the practical obligations are undertaken.

Nonetheless, the aspect of practical obligation as an essential role of the government serves two functions. First, it gives the people a central provider for things that the people equally enjoy like infrastructure, public service, social welfare etc. Second, the practical obligation is a tool that can be used to see if the government is still functioning as it is expected. This allows the people to gauge the ability or inability of the government, from which change can start so that a new form of government, or a restructuring of the government in people and policy, can be implemented to make the government function again in the manner expected of it. The role of the government that is included in the concept of practical obligation includes things that are of use to the people. That is the reason why it is called practical. The government is responsible in the task of making sure a system is in place and it is working and functioning so that it can provide for the people things that they need.

For example, departments are created by the government and these departments have different focus (i.e. education, health, environment, public works, energy etc.). These departments function under a set of policies and guidelines as designed and prescribed by the central government leadership. Independently, each department attends to the particular need of the people. Collectively, the departments all accomplish the different expected outputs of the government in response to its responsibility on practical obligations. Through these departments, the government allows the creation of bridges and roads to help transportation and commute. A department is dedicated to studying and producing methods and ways to produce health related things that can help the people if they get sick and is in need of medical attention, etc.

A country that has a government that is not able to fulfill its practical obligations to the people is often considered as an ineffective and useless government. For example, war and armed conflict that decimated the government and made the government incapable of responding to its practical obligations cannot provide for the education, security, health and other essential needs of its people, the inability to respond to the practical obligation being used to define the state and quality of the government in place in a particular country. Governments that are proven to be excellent in responding to its practical obligations to its people are hailed as governments that are exemplary, effective, efficient and productive. Without the practical obligation as a key role of the government that it has to undertake for the sake of its people, the government will have very little or no function at all.

In the US, one of the longest-running debates is the see-saw battle regarding the idea of the extent of the power of the state and federal or national government. The main argument of both sides is centered in the idea of the practical obligation of the government to its people and the role of the government as the agent that will accomplish this particular need of the society. Those in favor of increasing the power of the federal or national government believes that this will result in the better servicing of the federal or national government all across the US (which is tied with its accomplishing its responsibility regarding practical obligation). On the other hand, state government is resisting such development. They believe that it is the state government that should have a stronger role when it comes to undertaking the task of accomplishing the practical obligations expected of the government.

Role of government ethical obligations
Besides the practical obligations of the government, there is also what is considered as the ethical obligations of the government, which, for example, includes the protection of the human rights of the people as John Locke explained it in his discourses on politics. The ethical obligations of the government, as a concept, refer to a set of expected actions from the government to protect and preserve the sense of ethics inside the society and among its people. This is expected to be undertaken by the people who will serve in the government the moment they took office. Ethics dictate the way people should behave and act in the society. The government is expected to take actions (1) as a result of the expected ethical behavior from the government, and (2) to influence the prevalence of a sense of ethics among the people in the society. Often, the role of fulfilling the ethical obligations leads to the government acting as an agent of intervention during disputes wherein the issues blur the line between ethics and law. Their actions, in return, strengthen and reinforce the sense of ethics in the society and among its people.

The ethical obligation of the government is a very sensitive and important case and issue. The realization of ethics of the government as an entity is dependent on the people forming the government and their sense of ethics as a person. Like the practical obligations of the government, the ethical obligations of the government also acts as a means for the people to judge whether or not the government is performing up to the expectations and0at par with the standards the government should0act and behave, ethics-wise. The government often uses the role of fulfilling the ethical obligations as a launchpad towards enacting and enforcing law. If not, the governments handling of ethical problems and issues in the society influences the status quo and dictates how the people should behave in a socially-accepted manner.

For example, the American company Hewlett-Packard which produces computer and computer-related items and materials underwent a crisis involving the leaking of confidential information to the press and the subsequent ethical concerns with regards to pretexting. This was used as an approach by the investigators for them to be able to track down the individual guilty of leaking the information. Noticing the ethical aspect of the problem and judging the impact on the sense of ethics of the people in the society with the surfacing of such problems, the US government acted and intervened. Later, they used the problem and what it perceives as unethical actions involved in pretexting to push forward and approve the law making pretexting illegal in the future. This is just an example of how the government tries to fulfill its ethical obligations to the society, by acting ethically and by protecting the sense of ethics of the society.

The government is expected to act ethically, and at the same time, influence how the individuals in the society perceives and reacts to the concept of ethics and the degree by which ethics should influence the behavior of the individual. For example, the US government, both state and federal government, was deeply involved in the problem of the Hudson River clean up after the identification of the toxic PCBs in the river and its role in deteriorating the health and animal and plant life surrounding the area because of the dumping done by GE there. Like in0the previous example, the parties involved in this case are locked in a legal battle which evidently does not favor strongly a particular side since by law it is hard to pin down who between the two parties is correct. However, the governments action on intervening in the issue is hinged strongly on the ethical implications of the problem.

The government believes that action should be done by GE and by the government on the basis of ethics alone. While GE was indeed allowed to dump PCBs on the river legally, the availability of the new information identifying such situation as a potentially problematic and harmful situation for man, animal and plant life gives GE and the government the ethical responsibility to do something0about it. Not doing anything is an act similar to acting against the ethical practices to which both the government and a corporate identity like GE should behave. Like its practical obligations, the ethical obligations of the government to its people and0to the society is important, relevant and significant.

Analysis of the role of the government and the need for appropriate actions
Since the establishment of the concept of government and nation-wide governance inside countries, it is noticeable how the government has hat the role of not just triggering and prompting action. It is also an agent that is relied upon for the needed appropriate action. This is because the government is first and foremost considered as an entity that has the authority, morally and legally, to undertake the needed appropriate actions. The government is de facto in possession of authority, and thus its acts are lawful. This is best highlighted by the fact that it is inside the government where law-making and law-enforcement is found. Laws, among other things, dictate appropriate actions. When problems surface that needs a revision of these previously existing laws to accommodate the ethical and moral implications brought about by the problems arising in the society, the need for appropriate actions is acted upon by the government. There are also other sectors of the society that can also relied upon for the needed appropriate actions like non-government organizations or NGO and other similar groups, private sector, corporate entities, etc., wherein the government is an important source of action. The government can be involved in the creation and implementation of action plan in many different aspects of the social life  social welfare, security, religious practices, financial issues, moral and ethical problems, culture and the arts, etc.

There are many ways by which the government is empowered lawfully and historically to take the necessary appropriate actions needed during particular situations and conditions. Unfortunately, the analysis of the role of the government and the need for appropriate action is something that should be assessed and gauged on per country and per government basis. For example, the performance of the government on country A is different from the performance of the government in country B when it comes to fulfilling the need for appropriate actions coming from the government. In both countries A and B, government per government comparisons based on leadership (i.e. term and tenure of presidents) can also be assessed individually and compared with one another to see if the government has approached this role in different manner depending on the leadership of the countrys leader  a monarchal leader, a dictator, a military general or an elected president or prime minister, etc.

The role of the government and the optimal ethical, decision-making processes
The government is not relied only for actions, but also for its participation and role in the societys optimal ethical decision-making processes. Everyday, the society is faced with the need for decision-making regarding what to do for particular problems and issues. The people and the society looks to the government to participate in the optimal decision making process that the society has to undergo in response to conditions requiring such task. The government is expected to contribute significantly so that the decision making process is characterized as a process that realized its optimum capability and is undertaken in consideration to measures and parameters characterizing ethical actions from the government.

III. Conclusion
Why is there a government What is the need of the society for a government These are just some of the questions explored in the analysis of the role of the government. This query puts forward the important concept regarding the need for the government. This is because the society is dependent upon particular things that the government is expected to deliver, as part of its fulfilling its role in the society and to the people. The government is expected to act as a leader and provider. As a leader, the government should be the first one with the initiatives and sets of actions to make the society life characterized by the best available way of life the society can offer to its people, and maintaining or even improving such status.

The government has an important role in the society. The people are expecting them to fulfill its social obligations. The government has two distinct roles to which the people expect a lot of things. These roles are practical obligations and ethical obligations. In an entity that is powerful and influential, the people look at the government when there is a need for appropriate actions on particular issues. When this happens, the government is expected to display optimal ethical, decision-making processes.

As a provider, the government acts as a conduit that connects the resources of the people and the provision of what the people need to have and should have based on the resources that they make available to the government. The government can, in turn, provide sufficiently to its people, by giving them not just roads and bridges and hospital, but also a set of moral and ethical values and practices, the services of a governing entity that is unbiased and is not prejudicial over a particular group of individual, among others. These can be achieved and realized through the identification of the social role of the government to fulfill particular obligations  ethical and practical obligations.

Overall, it is important to identify and discuss the role of the government and the different important aspects of this topic. These include the fulfillment of the social obligations of the government, the role of government with regards to its practical obligations and ethical obligations, the analysis of the role of the government and the need for appropriate actions and the role of the government and the optimal ethical, decision-making processes, to help inform the people and to remind the government as well via the constant wave of consciousness among the people and the society.