Government responsibilities

Different Governments have different control and different roles in the country.
In a Communistic country the leader is generally born into power. There is one ruler, meaning that it is a dictatorship. The governments responsibility in a Communistic government is everything. The government controls everything in the country; natural resources, money, laws, trade, ect. Also in a Communistic country there are no taxes because the government takes all of the people money and distributes it evenly among the people. They also control the money you get for retirement.
In a mixed economy like the U.S. the government has different roles. The officials are elected in and generally are run by a democracy. The government responsibility is to protect the people, make and enforce laws, regulate trade, control various natural resources, relations between other countries, and the minimum education of students. Taxes are based on ones income. The government decided how much and how the taxes will be collected from you. You generally have to manage your own retirement plan though. The government does use social security but you don't know how long that will last so it is good to have money saved or have a 401k plan just  in case.