Government Essay

Government is an inevitable asset because human beings are savages and without government there would be total chaos. James Madison said â€Å"If men were angels, no government is needed†. People need a form of organized authority to create and enforce laws. Government plays a major role in everyday life, it provides people with public services, set goals and public policies, maintains tradition and culture, and resolves conflicts. In this essay, I will be discussing politics and public administration. I will further explain how both are intertwined and would never be able to be separated from one another. In hearing the word politics, what usually springs to mind are images of government, politicians and their policies or more negatively the idea of corruption, scandals and dirty politicians. The actual definition seems to have been obscured and almost lost by such representations and cliches that tend not to pinpoint the true essence which defines politics. Politics is a very emotive word and is used by different people to mean different things. There is no unifying theory of politics and hence no set boundaries of what can and cannot be said to be political. Politics is a broad term, which encompasses a wide range of activities and beliefs that help shape the modern world in which we live. The general contention is that politics is the preserve of government, either through influence, elections, or through the power and authority exerted by those who rule. In order to understand politics, and the role it fulfils, I feel it is important to backtrack to the beginning where the term politics originated. The word politics stems from the ancient Greek word polis, which means city-state. Ancient Greek society was divided into a collection of independent city-states each possessing its own system of government. Therefore, politics can be defined as â€Å"what concerns the state†, a view currently held by the public. The common belief is that if someone is to be involved in politics, then they hold a government office or position, whether it is in local government or the central government (Retrieved February 2, 2009, from http://en. wikipedia. rg/wiki/Polis ). The Greek philosopher Aristotle identified the word politics is as â€Å"politike†, a practical science, which is concerned with the noble action of happiness of citizens (Retrieved February 2, 2009, from http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Politics_(Aristotle). Politics is the decision making process, the settling of conflicts and the enforcing of goals and interests of citizens. Politics and public administration are cl osely linked, because public administration is defined as government management and examines the practices of governance. The separation of them from each other is a completely impossible. Traditionally, public administration is thought of as the accomplishing side of government. It is supposed to comprise all activities involved in carrying out policies of elected officials and some activities associated with the development of those policies. How these responsibilities are carried out reflect on the legitimacy of the administration, as well as the legitimacy of the government (Fesler & Kettl, 2005). Public administration impacts everyone’s life in different ways. Public administration allows people working in government to make a positive impact on society. They are organizations and agencies that apply and control different areas of society. Public administration creates and changes public policy programs to respond to the needs and interests of our nation. Every aspect of our daily lives is impacted in some way by the actions of federal, state, or local bureaucracies that manage and organize the public lives of its citizens. Public administration controls everything from the way we travel, our health, our education and our law enforcement. The American Public Transportation Agency improves and advances public transportation. They provide safe, proficient and cost effective transit services, improve services to meet national energy, environmental, and financial concerns. They are responsible for planning, designing, constructing, financing and operating transit systems. The Department of Health and Human Services is the United States government’s principal agency for protecting the health of all Americans and providing important human services for those who are not able to help themselves. This public administration includes the FDA, Food and Drug Administration, that assures the safety of foods, cosmetics, safety of pharmaceuticals, biological products, and medical devices. The HRSA, Health Resources and Services Administration, provides access to important health care services for people who are low income, uninsured or who live in rural areas or urban neighborhoods where health care is limited. These agencies are just a few of the many agencies that impact our everyday lives (Fesler & Kettl, 2005). Politics and public administration are intertwined and can never be separated from one another, because they complement each other and are connected in numerous ways. Through politics, members of the government make decisions and public administrators carry them out. Politics are not governed by a single institution, but by a collection of institutions, many of which are specialized. Public administrations on the other hand, have an extensive focus on governance systems. In other words, politics can never be separated from administration, because their functions always overlap one another. Politics and administration functions both need to be performed to have a successful governance system. Public administration is created as a result of politics, although others might say that there is politics in public administration. Both of which are true. As new laws are passed and policies change, it is up to the public administrator to implement these changes and carry them out. It can be a police officer issuing a ticket for a new law that was recently passed or a building evacuation by Department of Buildings inspectors, because a new building code was passed and the building is deemed unsafe to live in. It is simply a vicious circle with politics and public administration. In conclusion, politics and public administration have essential functions which simply cannot exist without each other.