Key Innovations in Government

Pintrest, accessed 1/3/2017

The point of this post is to point out that government, as all other parts of society, evolves over time with the times and perceived needs of the public.  Government expenditure priorities and chosen revenue streams are likely rich places to see what the elites of the society were prioritizing at any given time in their history.

Old styles of government (aristocracies, monarchies, and basic bureaucracies) seem to have taken money for the comfort of the people who were at the top of the political system.  The governments of those times seemed to have spent most of society's wealth on war and some economic infrastructure.  There may likely have been religious components to it.  But a known unknown amount of it went to the lavish lifestyles of the well-to-do.  Unfortunately, I do not know how much of the old-style governments revenue went to the lifestyle of the rich and influential.  Again, this would be an excellent study idea, if I'm able to get myself on my feet to a point where I can pick research topics to investigate.

I would argue that the real innovation of the modern society is the development of formalized public institutions that turn what was once pocket change for the nobility into services and programs that help societies do better as a group.  This extends beyond just military protection and basic infrastructure.  It also has been applied to ensuring the health of citizens, the educational system that fuels research and workforce skill development, social services and economic protections to prevent exploitation of labor and employer graft.  Last but not least, it also partially developed the administrative quality and capacity sufficient enough to execute these policies and programs well for the public.  The list could go on if it is discovered that there are other services that public sector institutions are better equipped at handling than private, for-profit organizations and institutions.  The key difference is that, through social innovation,

Unfortunately, these innovations that first began appearing in the 20th century have been eroded, mostly by the outside influence of private Capitalists seeking bigger profits for themselves at society's expense.  Indeed, these individual businesspeople have become much like the aristocracy they once deposed many generations ago.  Societal management is still a thing, and needs to be a thing that's done well if we're going to stand a chance of success in this chaotic and anarchic world we live in. But we need to decentralize the legal ownership of the means of production. We need to define systems of organizing, managing, and maintaining organizations and companies in the private sector. We need to actively include even a passive society in the choices that get made in them. And we need to provide quality services for people that are more appropriately handled by public sector institutions and organizations. Those innovations in government are needed, and needed fast.  Otherwise, I worry that the quality of life in our social world will continue to degrade and cheapen itself while Capitalists scramble for whatever they can take of society's wealth, just as the aristocratic nobles and monarchs once did all those centuries ago.