George Orwell: The Role Of Government

Every Political ideology from staunch libertarians to communists debate the role of government. Political author, George Orwell, believes the role of government is to establish a national identity based on patriotism over nationalism and focu on domestic needs over foreign struggles to power. Orwell describes patriotism as the “devotion to a particular place and a particular way of life, which one believes to be the best in the world but has no wish to force on other people” (“Notes on Nationalism” 1). One the other hand, nationalism is “the habit of identifying oneself with a single nation or other unit, placing it beyond good and evil and recognizing no other duty than that of advancing its interests” (“Notes on Nationalism” 1). In essence,

He is more concerned that a government focuses on the domestic needs of a nation rather than foreign contests for power. Orwell uses the Labour Party of England as an example of a government that fulfills its role. He writes, “It was and is primarily a party of trade unions, devoted to raising wages and improving working conditions. This meant that that all through the critical years it was directly interested in the prosperity of British capitalism” ("The English Revolution" 1). The Labour Party is an example of what Orwell believes the English government should be. It was successful because of its concern with citizens over global domination. The Labour Party recognized the people and created a system to accommodate their needs: capitalism. This is, in Orwell’s eyes, an anomaly. He believes, “We cannot look to this or to any similar government to put through the necessary changes if its own accord. The initiative must come from below” (The English Revolution" 1). This means that Orwell does not believe that people cannot trust their governments. They cannot leave room for the government to expand and become too powerful. Governments will, too quickly, ignore the needs of its citizens and chase