Governments tend to do things we both typically like, such as keeping us safe, protecting our rights, educating us, making laws, providing healthcare when we are in need and/or old, protecting what we eat & drink, delivering mail, employing many people, and providing assistance programs; and things we typically don’t like, such as taxes, regulations, protecting other peoples’ rights, educating us, providing healthcare when others are in need or old, “The Man” “invading” our privacy, arresting & trying us in court, employing many people, and providing assistance programs. There are 4 main roles that governments carry out.

The first role is keeping the peace. Without government, there would likely be chaos. In order to keep the peace, governments make and enforce laws and set up courts to settle disputes and punish law breakers.

The second role is protecting the country. Governments provide defense against outside attacks by maintaining armed forces and by making treaties with other countries- for both peace and common defense.

The third role is providing necessary services. Governments provide services society needs but can’t expect private businesses to provide. Some examples would be building and maintaining utilities like roads, sewer lines and water lines, and providing schools.

The last role that governments carry out is maintaining society's other institutions. For example, the United States government protects our freedom of religion, provides education, and provides services to families.

Governments are classified by the amount of power they have. There are 2 forms of governments.

The first form is a totalitarian (toe-tal-li-tear-e-an) government. In a totalitarian government, the leaders have unlimited power and dominate all aspects of society. There are 2 types of totalitarian governments: a monarchy, in which power is held by one person, such as a king or queen, who inherit their position (from a royal family); and a dictatorship, in which a power is held by single person (a dictator) or a small group or political party (an oligarchy). Totalitarian governments usually use military force to obtain its power without the consent of the people.

The other form of government is a democracy. In a democracy, the leaders only have the power given to it by the people. There are 2 different types of democracies. In a direct democracy, all citizens meet, discuss, and/or vote on every issue. Most countries are too large for direct democracies, so they elect people to represent them instead, which is called a representative democracy.

The structure of the US government is based on fundamental principles, which make the government flexible. As the nation changes over time and new needs arise, the flexibility of these fundamental principles help the government adapt to meet these new needs. There are 5 fundamental principles of the United States government.

The first principle is Consent of the Governed. The source of all government power is the people, who consent, or give permission, to an authority to govern them. Consent of the governed is also known as popular sovereignty, because the people (popular) rule (sovereignty).

The second principle is limited government, which means that the government is not all powerful, and may only do what the people give it power to do.

The third principle is the Rule of Law, which means that all people must be treated equally under the law, and nobody is above the law. No matter who is accused of committing a crime or is a victim of a crime, from the general population to celebrities and government officials, they are to be treated the same as other citizens under the law.

The fourth principle is democracy. The United States government was established on the ideal that it would be up to the people to decide the type of government that they preferred. When speaking of the importance of the survival of America’s democracy in the 1863 Gettysburg address, Abraham Lincoln said “…and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth…”.

The last principle is representative government. The United States government is a representative democracy, which is also called a republic. In a republic, people don’t govern directly, but instead elect officials to public office to make laws and run the government for them.