Actually, there is only one first question of government, and it is How should we live? or What kind of people do we want our citizens to be?
Interpretation
The essence of government lies in guiding how individuals live and shaping the character of its citizens.
George Will suggests that the fundamental concern of any government should be the moral and ethical framework within which its citizens operate. Rather than focusing solely on laws or policies, the primary question that should guide governance is centered on the values and qualities that society wishes to nurture in its people. This reflective approach moves beyond mere governance and touches on the deeper philosophical issues of purpose and community.
In practice
This quote can be used in a political debate to emphasize the importance of values in governance.
The problem with intelligent-design theory, is not that it is false but that it is not falsifiable. Not being susceptible to contradicting evidence, it is not a testable hypothesis. Hence it is not a scientific but a creedal tenet - a matter of faith, unsuited to a public school's science curriculum.
The cultivation - even celebration - of victimhood by intellectuals, tort lawyers, politicians and the media is both cause and effect of today's culture of complaint.
Correct thinkers think that 'baseball trivia' is an oxymoron: nothing about baseball is trivial.
Constitutional arguments that seem as dry as dust can have momentous consequences.
The civil forfeiture law - if something so devoid of due process can be dignified as law - is an incentive for perverse behavior: Predatory government agencies get to pocket the proceeds from property they seize from Americans without even charging them with, let alone convicting them of, crimes. Criminals are treated better than this because they lose the fruits of their criminality only after being convicted.
The business of America is not business. Neither is it war. The business of america is justice and securing the blessings of liberty.
We ought not to extract pernicious honey from poison blossoms of misrepresentation and mendacious half-truth, to pamper the course appetite of bigotry and self-love.
When the head aches, all the members partake of the pain.
That taxes may be the ostensible cause is true, but that they are the true cause is as far remote from truth as light from darkness.
You can oppose reparations all you want, but you got to know the facts. You really, really do.
But Father has also taught him: Treat a man as if he had a fine reputation to protect, and he will usually endeavor to deserve it.
Moral philosophy is nothing else but the science of what is good, and evil, in the conversation, and society of mankind. Good, and evil, are names that signify our appetites, and aversions; which in different tempers, customs, and doctrines of men, are different.
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