Been Pondering....

What should remain in public, government, control and administration.
I've played a lot of games that have involved building towns.  From D&D to Sim City there are a lot of games out there that involve growing cities out of nothing.  Few are detailed enough to require you to think about much beyond physical organization and taxes.  Some will make you think about the structure of government and laws.
And I've watched a lot of westerns where the struggling townsfolk hold meetings to decide how to deal with certain things.  So I have pondered this sort of thing before.
What, exactly does it mean to provide for the common good?
I really wish some of our politicians would lay awake at night pondering such thoughts.  I suspect most them, if they lay awake at night at all, are pondering the size of the next campaign donation, or wondering if anyone suspects they're- insert you favorite scandal here.  There's enough of them to choose from.
I think that we, as a nation, need to start pondering such things.
Our system is broken and it needs serious fixing.
And even though things are bad, and probably going to get much worse, I think we still have time before the shooting starts.  There's still time to change things in a more controlled manner.
So, let's consider, what should the government provide and be responsible for?
I'll state up front, my general base for these considerations is a truly democratic from.  One person one vote, the majority rules.  No electoral college BS.  I'll also assume public participation in the process...
Yeah, I know that's overly hopeful.
For now, we're gonna stick to the base question and think about oversight and control later.
Cuz, one of the first things that comes up in westerns is law and order.  In many a good western this gets outta hand, which is why oversight and control come into play.  But, as I said we'll ignore that for now.
Right now, just consider what services the community at large needs.

1. Keeping the peace.
And yeah, I phrased that intentionally.  Cuz, that's really what we want, right?  Peace?  The security of knowing that you can go to sleep at night and wake up the next day with your person and possessions intact?  The ability to go about your daily business in a calm and orderly fashion?  This is part of public safety.

Let's not consider rules and laws, just yet.

2. Fire department.
In Sim City these go along with police stations.  This is public safety too.

3. Education
Lot's of westerns deal with town meetings and hiring the new schoolmarm.  Education should not be only for those who can pay for it.

4. Transportation and roads.
I put transportation first, cuz that doesn't, necessarily, involve roads.  Some of my more successful Sim Cities were all rail.  We live in a new age, who knows what will emerge in the new century.  We should keep an open mind.

5. Health care
In a prior century, hospitals were non-profit institutions and doctors made house calls.  In my mind, at the very least, basic and preventative health care should be free.  We should reinstate the Hippocratic oath

6. Public safety
Certain standards should be established and maintained.  We all need trash pickup and sanitary conditions have to be considered.  Protecting people from unsafe industry practices and products is something that needs to happen on a society wide level.  All industries should be subject to some form of oversight.

7. Public Aide
An enlightened society would provide for those who can not provide for themselves. 

"A decent provision for the poor is the true test of civilization."
~Samuel Johnson, Boswell: Life of Johnson

"A nation's greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members."
~ Mahatma Ghandi

"...the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; those who are in the shadows of life; the sick, the needy and the handicapped. " ~ Hubert H. Humphrey

This is not a new idea.

8. Electricity/power
This is something that everyone depends on.  I don't see why boards of directors and stock holders really need to be involved.  This is something that affects the entire community and therefore should be controlled and maintained on a non-profit basis.

9. Water
Same as above, and again, here, we are talking about people's lives and public health.

10. Defense
National defense could come under public safety or law and order too.
And here we're talking about defending against real, direct threats to the safety of the nation.  Not fighting 2 useless wars because  we can trump up a reason to go for a preemptive strike.  Not interfering with the governments of sovereign nations, just because we don't like their politics.
(I'll add a note here.  What we did in Libya was not interference.  One of the few actions taken by this country in the last 60 years I can say that about.  The people of the country rose up to shake off an oppressive regime.  They asked for help.  The UN decided to act.  We aided the UN.)

12. Environmental protection
Leaving questions of Global Warming aside, it doesn't take a rocket scientists to figure out that pollution is BAD.  This is not something to leave to private concern.  This is something that affects the population of the entire planet.

Well, that's my base list.
I think these things should all be controlled from the top down.  These are things that affect the lives of every person in the country and should be uniform across the country.
That's all I've got for right now.  This is a big topic and I'm still pondering...