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/lit/ - Literature

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3182060 No.3182060[DELETED]  [Reply] [Original]

Is there any good literature on the role of government and/or the government's obligation to the poor?

>> No.3182067

The Constitution of the United States of America

>> No.3182082

>>3182067

How about non-fiction

>> No.3182083

>>3182060
There are many, many law textbooks. You might want to look into comparative law textbooks, especially those that focus on constitutional states.

>> No.3182103

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Social_Contract

>> No.3182118

>>3182103
Social Contract isn't about what OP is asking about. Other social contractarians might be on topic, but that is not at all what Rousseau is writing about. You'd be better served with Rawls or something idk.

>> No.3182125

>>3182118
Government is a social contract though.

>> No.3182150

>>3182125
Right, but Rousseau isn't really writing about the role of government in society, or the government's obligation to the poor - he's writing about the principles of political right and what constitutes legitimacy.

I guess it's not as extreme as I made it out to be. But I think there are things that more closely approach what OP is looking for, because I think Rousseau's point of emphasis is not exactly what OP has in mind.

>> No.3182161

Leviathan to some extent

>> No.3182165

>>3182150
That's true, and Roussea is definitely a stretch for obligation to the poor, but OP also asked for role of government, which is extremely broad, so a lot of things can help.

I'd use Rousseau as a stepping stone for his question, but not for the more specific things OP wants to know.

>> No.3182173

I think Samuel Smiles' work, Self-Help, would be great for you.

A short extract from chapter 1, "National and Individual"

>To constitute the millionth part of a legislature, by voting for one or two men once in three or five years, however conscientiously this duty may be performed, can exercise but little active influence upon any man's life and character. Moreover, it is every day becoming more clearly understood, that the function of government is negative and restrictive, rather than positive and active; being resolvable principally into protection, - protection of life, liberty, and property. Hence the chief "reforms" of the last fifty years have consisted mainly in abolitions and disenactments. But there is no power of law that can make the idle man industrious, the thriftless provident, or the drunken sober; though every individual can be each and all of these if he will, by exercise of his own free powers of action and self-denial.

>> No.3182197

>>3182125
no it isn't.

>> No.3182209

>>3182203
it's an organized criminal gang

>> No.3182203

>>3182197
What is it, then?

>> No.3182216
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3182216

>>3182209

>> No.3182497

>>3182060
>Is there any good literature on the role of government and/or the government's obligation to the poor?

Yes; it's called Atlas Shrugged.

>> No.3182507
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3182507

>>3182060
Pic related.

>> No.3182585

>>3182060

The Communist Manifesto