Discussion Topic #2 - The Function of Government

Being removed from the academic arena of the political science field, I suspect this discussion would be one for which any discussion generated will be particularly enlightening to me.

Let me postulate the following discussion topic, "What is the Function of Government?" 

Could there be a simpler answer than the following:  "The coercion of a constituency to do what they otherwise would not."

A corollary to this concept would be to describe a government's two most basic activities as the ability to tax, and the ability to enforce its decrees.

To expound on that thought, anything that it spends money on, is in essence a determination the authoritative body has determined is sufficiently necessary to require that people be coerced to pay for it.

I could list multiple examples and instances, and then describe how they align with the provisions.  Utilities and public works, public education and welfare programs, land allocation and record keeping, criminal law, licensing.  Even international relations boils down to making agreements with other nations based on what the represented government can require their constituency to support.

Providing the security of a contract, which seems to be another general category of governmental functions, is really a bi-product of the potential that one party will not meet its obligations and must therefore be coerced into upholding that agreement.

Taken from the opposite point of view, consider the statement, "Freedom is not the right to do what we want, but what we ought. Let us have faith that right makes might and in that faith let us; to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it."  (The quote has been attributed to Abraham Lincoln though I have not found a definitive source.  Several similar statements are quoted from prominent individuals including Pope John Paul II.)

Notice how the statement dovetails with the above proposition.  Freedom is doing your duty without coercion.  As a populace undertakes its duties willingly, the need for governmental coercion is minimized while personal freedoms are maximized.  The counterbalance to a society unable to fulfill its duty, governmental authority becomes more necessary.

Based on this proposition, what implications can we draw?

Can we say that as government is expanded, the coercion of the population is correspondingly increased and personal freedoms are decreased?

Is it also fair to say that as a citizenry loses is ability to accurately understand its duties and the fortitude to carry out those duties, a governments prominence will increase which will directly lead to a decrease in individual freedoms?