Tasks of the state

 

In practice the state should maintain an army that is large enough to give credible protection against foreign armies.

 

The state should have laws to protect citizens from being killed or robbed by other citizens and maintain a police force to enforce them and ensure that those who break the laws are caught and punished.

 

The state should guaantee that even the citizens with no money are provided sufficient food and shelter for survival. Being poor should not be a crime punishable by death.

 

Medical care for easily treatable injuries and diseases should be available to everybody, even those who cannot pay for it themselves. No one should be allowed to die for lack of treatment just because they don't happen to have money.

 

Large gap between the rich and the poor threatens stability of the society. Therefore the state should not only help the poor but also tax the rich more to keep the gap at reasonable levels. It is only fair that those who have more should also be made to contribute more.

 

The state should try to use the best known macroeconomic means to ensure the steady growth of economy like increasing taxes and cutting spending to prevent economy from overheating and cutting taxes and increasing spending during recession. While it may be impossible to completely prevent recessions, this should at least mitigate their effect.

 

If people lose their confidence in banks and start to withdraw their deposits at the same time, the resulting bank run may topple banks and turn recession into full-blown depression. Therefore the state should provide support for banks when necessary and as a last resort guarantee the deposits itself to prevent bank runs.

 

Some industries and companies are vital to the national economy and employment. The state should support them during hard times and use tariffs to protect them from unfair foreign competition.

 

More companies means more employment. While many of the new companies will fail, some will grow up to big companies providing even more jobs and tax revenues. Therefore the state should encourage the establishment of new companies by offering start-up money and other financial support.

 

Regular exercise improves health. Besides the benefits to the individuals, it also helps the economy by keeping sick leaves at minimum and decreasing health care costs. Therefore the state should provide financial support to sport clubs and developing exercise grounds to encourage people to exercise more.

 

While freedom of speech is the cornerstone of a well functioning society and nobody wants to ban constructive criticism, some people are merely using it as an excuse to spew hatred and insults against other people. The state should make it clear that not all kinds of speech is protected and those who abuse that freedom will be punished.

 

Some substances are clearly harmful for health like drugs, alcohol, tobacco, greasy food and sweets, yet people continue to abuse them. Therefore the state should outright ban the most harmful ones. When the damage is not big enough to justify complete ban or it is otherwise impractical, they should be regulated and taxed heavily. Not only does this curb consumption, it also provides funds for treating the problems they cause.

 

Some practices like gambling, pre-marital sex and pornography, while not causing direct damage to health, nevertheless harms the mental on moral well-being of citizens and should therefore be either banned, regulated or heavily taxed. While the actual list of what is considered immoral depends on time and culture (homosexuality and masturbation were still a while ago and still are in many parts of the world considered immoral and illegal), in democracy it is natural to go with what the majority of the people consider immoral.

 

Some goods like expensive sports cars or luxury yachts are prohibitively expensive yet have little practical use besides showing off the wealth and status of their owner. It is clear that people who own these have too much money and can be taxed more. They probably won't even complain; after all, as taxing makes these items more expensive, it only improves their effect as status symbol since even fewer people can afford them.

 

A house divided against itself cannot stand. While it is natural for people to disagree, the state should encourage the feelings of national pride, patriotism and unity via education, sports and infomercials to prevent those disagreements fom threatening the whole nation and make the citizens be more willing to compromise and understand that in tough times individual sacrifices are sometimes needed to protect the nation as a whole.