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For Mill, government does not exist merely to promote and produce the maximum amount of pleasure, which its citizens like to have. Rather, government must continually seek to educate its citizens so that they pursue the higher, mental pleasures over the lower ones. In fact, it is the government’s responsibility, as well as an individual responsibility, to undertake moral education so that the result may be a good society. This moral education must be implemented with the recognition that people are not merely hedonistic pleasure seekers but that they are progressive by their very nature and desire higher pleasures. Thus, a good government is one that encourages an active participation by all its citizens. A bad government is one that forces its citizens to be passively obedient to the wishes and whims of a ruling elite, no matter how sensible these wishes and whims may in fact be.
