Freedom 7/04/10
Freedom 7/04/10 by dianecordell, on Flickr

The confluence of the U.S. Government shutdown, this story about crowd-funding community policing and the extreme change resistance of the Austrian political system made me think about the root of governments and states.

Fundamentally governments are established for the purpose of facilitating the interactions between individuals and groups. This entails providing for communal services, defence toward external threats and regulating the interactions between citizens.

In the three examples that triggered this line of thought, the institutions are refusing to provide the fundamental things they were created for adequately. Thankfully people generally agree that: Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes. The question is when governmental failings cease to be light and transient. They are becoming more severe an permanent every year.