Government
- When individuals collectively seek to express themselves – that is, strive to find their self-expression in the expression of a group identity – they can be called a people.
- When a people seek to express themselves as a sovereign body, governed by this identity and by those who inherit this identity, then they seek to form a nation.
- A nation is not simply a group of people with its own territory and government. Rather, a nation is an image, an identity, something expressible in and through the efforts of a people consenting to being governed.
- A nation is designed to perpetuate its own existence. The perpetuation of its own existence depends on its level of power or influence in the world with respect to other nations. Thus, there is no nation that exists without respect to other nations. A nation is an international product, the offspring of a group of people seeking continuing recognition as a sovereign body by other sovereign bodies.
- The power or influence of a nation can be measured by two distinct factors: 1) the ability of a nation to wage war and defend its sovereignty, and 2) the ability of a nation to provide or allocate distinct and valuable resources, tangible and/or intangible.
- A government is not instituted to secure the rights of a people. Rather, a government is instituted to secure the power or influence of a nation. Thus, the purpose of a government is to manage the conduct of the people of a nation, as well as the resources of that nation, in such a way so as to perpetuate that nation’s existence in the world. That is, the role of a government is either to help strengthen the nation’s ability to wage war and defend itself; provide, allocate, or allow for the production of distinct and valuable resources; or both.
- To exert influence over the general conduct of a people, a government creates positions of subjectivity centered on the production, execution, enforcement, development, and annulment of laws. These positions of subjectivity include legislators, executors, judiciaries, and citizens. Thus, contrary to popular belief, laws are not instituted in order to manage the conduct of a people; rather, “people” are instituted to manage laws, and in managing laws, the people manage themselves.
- The consent to be governed lies in an individual’s acceptance of a certain position assigned to and defined for him by the government. This position – the role of the citizen – takes a specific relation to the law; an individual who accepts this position and acts from this position understands himself as subordinate to the laws of his nation. Even if he disagrees with the law, or if he disobeys the law, he accepts his position as being unable, on its own, to create, establish, interpret, or execute the law. His role as a citizen in managing the law is simply in acting in compliance or violation of the law.
- Rights are not properties of citizens, but properties of the law. That is, the rights of a citizen do not at any point free him from subordination, but simply exclude or limit certain forms of subordination with respect to the management of the law (e.g. impediments on his ability to publish without being censored, to assemble peaceably, to vote, etc.). Even if a certain management of a law violates a citizen’s rights, the citizen himself must still be subordinate to that law. His subordination to a certain law can only be relieved by some other position (a legislator, executor, or judiciary) annulling that law’s effect.
- The purpose of a citizen, as part of his government, is to help fulfill the purpose of the government – that is, to secure the influence of the nation to which he belongs with respect to other nations. A citizen does this in and through his subordination to the law. Thus, the citizen of a nation occupies an international position of subjectivity. That is, the citizen is, in part, responsible for the power or influence a nation exerts with respect to other nations. This responsibility, though, only extends as far as the citizen’s subordination to the law.
- Compliance with the law depends on whether complying expresses an individual’s underlying desires or needs. If complying with a law does not express an individual’s underlying desire or needs, he will refrain from obeying the law. Likewise, if violating the law expresses an individual’s underlying desires or needs, he will seek to violate the law.
- An individual cannot be reduced to his relation with the law. Rather, an individual is a bio-politico-socio-economic being. As such, he expresses biological, political, social, and economic desires or needs, all in spheres that are distinct from the law. Thus, an individual’s ability to comply with the law depends on the underlying desires and needs he expresses in these different, though often intersecting or overlapping, spheres.
- When a significant portion of the citizenry refuses to comply with the law, or actively violates the law, then a state of instability occurs in the nation, threatening the ability of the government to secure the power or influence of the nation. The role of the government, therefore, is to maximize compliance and minimize violations from its citizens with respect to its laws.