Obedience to Government

As I have read, a government is a body with the power to make and/or enforce laws for a country, land area, people, or organization. It is a group of people who hold a monopoly on the legitimate use of force in a given territory. It is viewed as the ruling political power. We obey the government because we have a responsibility as a citizen of our country. That responsibility is to be one with our fellow countrymen. I think the government is an organizational tool to keep a country going. Without it, we will have a difficult time in developing because nothing ties up everyone.

I think for a person to obey a certain authority, he or she must learn to trust it. The former should have the assurance that the obedience will then be put into good use by the authority trusted to receive it. People nowadays may hesitate to obey the government maybe because it sees that the government is not worth its trust. The investment of willpower in obedience to the government is a risk of some kind. It may not be a big of a deal to most of us but when put together, everyone’s obedience is worth a lot. It is possible to change something huge and eventful.

My professor asked us, “Are we obliged to obey a bad government?” It intrigued me on how to answer this question without being confusing. I think the suitable answer, no matter how corny it may sound, is it depends. What do we mean by the term “bad”? “Bad” in the sense that the government is cruel, inconsiderate and unfair? Or “bad” in the sense that the government has no brainpower to analyze where it’s at and how to deal with the changes it encounter. If the question was asked with the term pertaining to the first possibility, I think it’s a moral decision. If asked in the second possibility, I think I will not obey a government that cannot move on its own. I want a government that knows what it is doing. I deserve it because I pay my taxes, I believe that I am doing what I can to be a productive individual that will be beneficial to the country.