We should distinguish at this point between "government" and "state" ... A government is the consensual organization by which we adjudicate disputes, defend our rights, and provide for certain common needs ... A state on the other hand, is a coercive organization asserting or enjoying a monopoly over the use of physical force in some geographic area and exercising power over its subjects.
Interpretation
The quote differentiates between 'government' as a consensual entity and 'state' as a coercive power.
David Boaz's quote emphasizes the distinction between government and state. While a government is formed by the consent of the people to manage disputes and provide services collectively, a state is portrayed as an entity that wields power coercively, maintaining control over individuals in a specific territory through the use of force. This differentiation invites a deeper reflection on our understanding of political authority and the nature of power in society.
In practice
In a discussion about political philosophy, this quote can illustrate the fundamental differences in governance concepts.
Like the generations of leaves, the lives of mortal men. Now the wind scatters the old leaves across the earth, now the living timber bursts with the new buds and spring comes round again. And so with men: as one generation comes to life, another dies away.
Are you scared?’ asked Mr. Ibis. ‘Not really.’ ‘Well, try to cultivate the emotions of true awe and spiritual terror, as we walk. They are the appropriate feelings for the situation at hand.
Where some people are very wealthy and others have nothing, the result will be either extreme democracy or absolute oligarchy, or despotism will come from either of those excesses.
That saints will aid if men will call; For the blue sky bends over all!
This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or exercise their revolutionary right to overthrow it.
Outside the kingdom of the Lord there is no nation which is greater than any other. God and history will remember your judgment.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.