What do liberals believe government should be?

Answer 1

Government, according to modern Liberals, should redistribute the assets of the wealthy to support the majority. They are as those who wanted more eggs from the golden goose and opened it up thus killing the source. Liberalism is couched in good feelings and generosity with the assets of others.

Government should regulate and provide for all aspects of human life from the cradle to the grave. Government should decide who lives and who dies and when. Government should prevent individuals from owning property and goods. Everything should be owned by the government. No one should be permitted to enjoy the fruit of his labors because he would have more than others. This would be an inequality.

The natural consequence of such a government will be the reduction of everyone to the same standard of living and the elimination of any personal motivation to excel in business.

Everyone will be an employee of the government. No one will be free.

In effect, it is a return to feudalism, where the government is the king.

Nice try, but that's a strawman argument.

Modern Liberals (and, I speak in world-wide terms as to what a Liberal is, not the mutant distorted view of a Liberal that seems to have taken hold in the U.S.A.) generally believe in these fundamental concepts:

• Capitalism is the proper form of economic theory
• However, Capitalism has significant failings when attempting to build a society
• To fix failings of the Capitalist economic theory in society, ideas from Socialism can be applied.

This fusion of Capitalist economic ideas with Socialist social society ideas is the primary definition of a modern Liberal.

Practically speaking, this means that a Liberal espouses many (though likely not all) of the following ideals:

1. As it is impossible for each citizen to start out life on a truly even level, societal justice (harmony, happiness, etc.) demand that society manage some level of wealth redistribution, where the more fortunate subsidize those less able to provide for themselves.
2. It is the responsibility of society (in the guise of government) to provide a minimum standard of living to all citizens. This may or may not include items such a public heathcare, housing provisions, retirement funds, etc.
3. Those who have more than others should be expected to proportionally contribute more to society as a whole. This does NOT mean that everyone should have the same level of income or wealth. It is most evident in having a Progressive tax system (where the percentage of taxation increases with income)
4. Government should help protect citizens from events beyond their (reasonable) control - that is, provide a social "safety net" to cushion the blows that chance may deal out. Examples of this would be Disaster Relief programs, Job Retraining, Unemployment Insurance.
5. Individuals should be rewarded for industriousness and therefore be able to benefit from the fruits of their labors, though government may chose to restrict certain economic activities as harmful to the society as a whole (even though certain individuals might benefit greatly).
6. Government is responsible for managing the country's resources in a manner most beneficial to society as a whole and for the long-term, and should have the power to regulate private use of common shared resources.
7. Justice (in the legal systems) should not be dependent on wealth or station
8. Justice should be about the Spirit of the law, and take into account all circumstances surrounding the crime, both positive and negative, and should be applied as evenly as possible.
9. As Justice is imperfect, and as capital punishment is an irreversible act, the state should not be permitted to commit an irreversible act on imperfect evidence. Therefore, capital punishment is immoral and impermissible.
10. As future generations are important, and the family unit provides considerable social stability and other benefits, families should be supported and encouraged. This may include items such as paid family leave, subsidies for having children (including tax breaks), free daycare, etc.
11. Any specific Religion should have no role in defining societal morals. In particular, moral behavior is an individual's right to determine for themselves, so long as it does not impinge on another's right to determine their own morals. Legality and morality (or, ethics vs morals) are distinct. Most specifically, government should NEVER be in the business of defining morality.
12. Religion should not have any influence in government, other than informing an individual's choice of morality.
13. Certain industries or services are inherently a "natural monopoly", and as such, should either be heavily regulated or government-owned so as to provide the best societal benefit (not the maximum profit). For example: power distribution, roadways, water supplies, etc.

There are plenty of other examples, but the main thrust behind Liberalism is twofold: societal justice and harmony through some level of weath redistribution to soften the problems that random chance has on the society, and individual choice in determining their own personal behavior so long as that behavior does not significantly impact social justice and harmony.