WHAT IS GOVERNMENT FOR ?

Something that I feel is particular to this country and in need of review is a general assumption that it is not primarily the job of government to look after its citizens. There is a deeply established cultural preference to prefer to leave the dealing with the consequences of the huge holes in the provision of sufficient means and adequate care of the population to philanthropic individuals, a maze of charities and obscure not-for-profit organisations.
I would ask the question what is government for if not to look after its citizens as its primary duty ?
This new coalition is playing on this remarkably resilient and strangely unchallenged cultural trait with its bizarre suggestion that almost the entire country can function and provide for its citizens by some sort of collection of voluntary enterprises, with the government acting as a sort of patronising enabler but offering no material support.
But while senior politicians in this government could well afford to live without their salaries and might choose to magnanimously waive away their pensions that they do not need anyway, this is simply not the case for the millions of citizens of the country : we need an income, as regular as possible. Whatever it is called, a pension, a benefit, a salary, wages, a basic reasonable amount of month coming in every month is necessary to keep body and soul together and to pay for the fundamentals of food, shelter and warmth in cold weather.
At some point it has to be admitted that there are never going to be jobs for all, and all pretense to the contrary is just that : a pretense. No matter how much economists debate and make their self-righteous proclamations about China importing more will revive the ' western economy ' ( what is that, John Wayne film futures ? ) or some such macro-economic nonsense, the fact remains : there never has been full employment, except in time of war, when the government, yes them, could suddenly find the resources to give everyone able person a job, albeit one making weapons or going off to kill people, and it is increasingly less likely that there ever will be.
The delusion that by 'looking harder' or by being given more 'advice' and more 'help' new actual paid jobs are going to appear is obviously rubbish. As unemployment escalates at some point it will have to be realised by these died-in-the-wool free marketeers that unless a new contract that gives people a right to a basic adequate income wether working or not has to be made, otherwise, quite simply so many people will default on their bills and become desperate as they can not afford to eat, that they will take to the streets and attack the properties and possessions and eventually the privileged people that have too much and the ignorant politicians who refuse to see that so many others are being denied a chance to live in dignity in this wealthy country.