There is only one thing that a government can legitimately do that any other organization cannot - legitimatize the use of coercion. There is only one reason to desire political power: to force people, with the threat of violence to do that which you cannot otherwise convince them to do.
If you can accomplish your aims by persuasion or appeals to self-interest, you have no need to pursue political power. You can do those things without enforcement. If you win the hearts and minds, you don't really need the guns, cuffs and riot batons.
But sometimes, the use of coercive power is legitimate, serving the greater good expediently. Enforcement of the laws, protection of the lives and property of citizens, health and safety regulations, &ct. If there were no threat of coercion, of enforcement, taxation would just be donation.
But if you seek to enforce an ideology or a religious dictum at gunpoint, to force your version of enlightenment at the end of a policeman's stick, that is not a legitimate use of political power, and those who seek power to enforce their worldview must be kept away from power at all costs.
No matter how certain you are that your understanding of the world, human nature, and right governance is correct, when you cross the line from persuasion to coercion, you take a terrible moral risk. And you inflict the consequences on everyone within your regime's reach. You'd better be right, or you're just another petty tyrant, no matter how grand your vision.
The reason that politics is so important is that at its root, the government legitimatizes the use of force. How that use is to be limited, and to what ends it is to be applied is a critical question in everyone's day-to-day lives. If you refuse to think about politics and political power you expose yourself and everyone you love to the dangerous intent of those who think about little else.
3 Comments
1 more comment...No posts
Perfectly said
And the times are nigh — as the ‘Autocrat America Transformation Project’ proceeds apace. We must bolster one another and embolden collective action and resolve. Encouraging despair and helplessness seems like hammer and nail to autocrats and despots-in-waiting. Thanks for this post, Kit.