Society Driven or Market driven?

[HereSince1628]

9. Doesn't it depend on how we see the balance in the purpose of government?

During the revolutions of the enlightenment, it was argued that people allow governments to be erected because its a full time job to coordinate and implement protection of society from the misbehavior of other people (inside and outside/foreign and domestic) and to improve the -common- good.

We see that very language in the Declaration of Independence which was the formal argument used to justify revolution and establishment of new government.

Early on that language may or may not have been much better balanced toward social issues. From time to time, as in the period of anti-trust of Teddie Roosevelt's time, government returns to social forces.

Since the start of the cold war, pressure has been exerted toward the business of business being the business of government...which can be said to be the promotion of market forces largely because that opposed our "socialist enemy" Although the rationale was more that the pursuit of happiness mentioned in The Declaration is really about the advancement of individual and collective wealth.

Seems to me the best of times in the last century seem were associated with an awareness of the need for mixed economies and mixed interests of government, which focused on protecting people from excesses and abuse of power and wealth.

There are circumstances where the incentive of market profits encourages risk taking and development of new goods and services, and there are also circumstances where market profits are nothing more than the greedy and/or exploitative application of monopolistic control and inability of consumers to refuse essential purchases.