Dissertations

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However capitalists need some government, and though they may espouse a hatred for socialism, don't mind using government subsidies for what benefits them, such as infrastructure, roads and bridges, police, fire, military protection and promotion in foreign countries, government contracts, trade laws, special advantage legislation, or outright theft from the government. Capitalists may be conflicted and basically want as much government as necessary to promote their own interests, and as little government as possible to promote anyone else.

Left Wing represents people who believe in social equity. The Left Wing believes that the creation and maintenance of this equity is the proper province of government. One of the fundamental functions of government is to create and maintain standards, as anything from currency, weights and measures, speed limits, labor laws, safety codes or business and trade practices. Because the elite can purchase private armies and influence all aspects of the social and political conditions, by means of favoritism, bribery or charity, it is only through the agencies of government, as the pooling of the resources of the majority, that the regulation of socially equitable standards can be enforced. Government is created in which the various agencies, such as the military and police in this instance, represent the constituency as a whole, as opposed to elitist individuals and classes and the accordant social hierarchy, in which the benefits of society are distributed relative to status.

In terms of the idea of government being used as a vehicle to create and maintain social equity, the degree to which government should regulate human affairs is what distinguishes the Left from the Right Wing.

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