What is the Proper Role of Government??

The proper role of the United States government is something easily debated by many people. Being an election year, it is easy to see people’s opinions of what they think their government should do and control. For example, the Democratic Party generally is more Liberal. They are for bigger government involvement in areas such as health care and welfare. Generally, we experience higher taxes to pay for the projects they put in place. The Democratic Party leans more towards promoting social freedoms; such as allowing abortions and gay rights. Where, on the other hand, the Republican Party is for less government involvement and lower taxes. This party is full of conservatives, people who dislike change. They are for less federal government involvement, and giving more power to the states. But which way is the best way for our government to go? What is the proper role of the government?
To be broad I believe the proper role of government is to secure the rights and freedoms of individual citizens. But do we only believe this because it’s what we have been told to think for many years.
With the United States government, the power lies with the people. We are unique in that we have a checks and balances system between three sections of government: the legislative, judicial, and executive branches. In our system, no one section can gain too much power; they must all rely on each other to run an affective nation.
Even within the legislative branch there is a checks and balance system. There are two sections that make up the United States Congress: the House of Representatives, and the Senate. The House is designated to more so represent the people (based on population), whereas the senate represents the states (equal representation). The main purpose of this branch is to make the laws for the people.
The executive branch, consisting of the President, is designated to "take care that the laws be faithfully executed." This is the enforcer. Not just of our laws, but this branch also consists of our military for national defense.
The judicial branch is needed to interpret the law. The Supreme Court is the highest court in our judicial system. When problems arise, the Supreme Court interprets what the Constitution and laws say about a certain subject.
All of the people that make up these positions for these different parts of government are working for the people. In a sense they are temporarily hired to represent those that elected them. The problem arises when the elected officials bring personal opinion into the situation. No matter what, for our government to work how it is supposed to, the elected representatives should express the ideas of the people they are representing. Otherwise, the people will not be heard.
Does the government always uphold the constitution, isn’t this something else they are supposed to do? The Preamble states, “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” I still think this is something we are struggling with.