Purpose of government from a philosophical view

I have the most "challenging" professor and I think being nervous did not help me when writing this paper. Please tell me what you think.

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Nearly everyone lives in a world that is controlled by some government system, whether anarchy, capitalist, communist or democratic. Those are only a few types of government system that exist today, but regardless of the leadership style, people want leaders for many different reasons. Dictionary.com defines government as “the act or process of governing, especially the control and administration of public policy in a political unit”. Government has to gain its control by some method, whether by some straight forward or roundabout means of force.

Hobbes believed that in order to unite people, a common power was necessary and without it “they are in that condition which is called war” (3). Hobbes also believed that without a common power individuals would fear others who would fight each other in order to gain anything and everything they wanted to own. Because fights would naturally occur, Hobbes believed that absolute power is needed to control the natural law of evil that supposedly exists within everyone. Although the nature of evil might exist in everyone, government protects me from those who are inclined to act upon this evil. For example, if anyone decides to take my property without my permission, then the role of government is to use its power or force to control people from taking what is rightfully mine. The government should also use that same power to protect me from other branches of government if they attempt to commit similar acts. It is imperative to have a government that will perform on our behalf when our morals fall short. Government has the right to set rules and guidelines that should apply to everyone, even the makers of the rules. There right should also extend to enforcing some form of punishment for those who do not adhere. I don’t think that government should extend the power to create situations that would trap people into committing evil acts or create situations where they are the ones committing the wrongful act. Rules should apply to everyone regardless of race, sex or social standing. Unlike Hobbes, John Locke believed that the natural law of mankind is to maintain their freedom through equality. Locke believed that government needs to preserve these rights in order to live in peace amongst each other. Locke put a lot of faith in people, but I think we have to consider that both the nature of good and evil exists in the world today. We should have the right to smoke cigarettes, but not at the risk of causing harm to others. We can not give individuals the free right to make certain decisions because we can not rely on the nature of good prevailing over the nature of evil. If we were responsible to set our own rules, with less intervention from the government then we would have the free right to change our rules at will. It would be possible to consent to abortion one day and completely change our minds the next day or we would probably choose to smoke in an enclosed room filled with people without due care. Our rules will most likely be convenient to our personal needs with little consideration on the effect it will have on the nation. The government should play the role of a mediator by listening to the voice of everyone and then act upon that if necessary.

Some people believe that the power of government should be limited to the control of national defense and law enforcement. But we need other restrictions to ensure that people do not act upon their nature of evil, especially when there is a continuous battle about equality in society. We will never live in a society that is equal, there will always be a conflict whether between rich or poor or Jewish or Catholic. What the government should do is provide a system that will unite society and not divide it. Once the rules of set by government are established, people should be allowed to live the way they want and the government should only intervene when and if they infringe upon someone else rights when doing so.