The Government Nobody Knows--nor Wants to Know.

• Author: Payne, James L.
• Position: Essay

We live in the era of big government, a time when government is expected to solve all problems, when the word government is on everyone's lips. Yet, strangely, practically everyone, from scholars to the general public, seems quite vague about its specific nature.

You can confirm the popular confusion by asking friends and neighbors, "What is the definition of 'government'?" I have been posing this question for some time now, and I seldom get a clear, confident response. Many draw a blank, saying, "I've never really thought about it," or "I haven't a clue."

Some attempt answers. For example, they propose that "government is the thing that governs."

When I gently suggest that's circular, some redouble their efforts: "Government is the organization that makes rules for society."

I point out that churches also make rules for society. So do writers of editorials. So what's the difference, specifically?

They try a different tack. "But government is the expression of the entire community, not just of a particular subgroup. Government's rules are legitimate." I ask, "Were Hitler's rules legitimate?" "Of course not."

"Then Germany had no government from 1933 to 1945?"

The strange thing about all this confusion is that we actually do have in our minds a quite simple, specific definition of government, a definition that we implicitly apply when talking about government. We can uncover this definition by starting with the idea that many people mention: government is the organization that makes rules-- it governs, it exercises authority, it defines right and wrong. The problem, as already noted, is that all organizations, from the smallest stamp club to the largest corporation, make rules, exercise authority, and define right and wrong. So we have to ask: What does government have that all these other rule-making organizations lack?

At this point, most people will say that government is special because it can enforce its rules. That's a beginning, but it still won't narrow things down because every organization "enforces" its rules in some way or another, to some degree or another. It may use moral force, persuasion, pleading, shaming, shunning, nagging, and, of course, economic incentives. For example, every employer "enforces" its rules of employee conduct by threatening to fire--cease paying--employees who break them. What makes government's enforcement of its rules different? If, for example, government passed a rule that said restaurants must build a handicap access ramp, how would it enforce that rule?

Now we get to the heart of the matter. When government agents find a restaurant without the access ramp, they do not rely on persuasion or education. They do not offer to give the owner money so that he can build a ramp. They threaten him with the use of physical force. At first, this threat takes the form of a legal document: a summons or a fine. But if the owner, believing the rule to be foolish or unjust, ignores the document, the government does not simply forget the case. It sends police officers to seize the owner's property or to drag him to jail or both.

This is what is distinctive about government, compared to all other organizations: it employs physical force to uphold its rules. If you take away from government its specialists in force--the police officers and soldiers--you don't have government. You would have an organization that might be respected in the way a conclave of religious figures or a group of scientists are respected, but it would not be feared--and probably not be widely obeyed.

Here's the definition of government, then: government is the organization that directs the regular, public use of physical force in a territory and makes rules upheld with the threat of force.

We include the word public in the definition to distinguish government from people who use force out of the public eye--robbers and murderers. They act with surprise or stealth. The agents of government, in contrast, act publically. They announce they're coming at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow to take away our property, in broad daylight. We also include the word regular in the definition...