31: Government

Don’t tell me about the government. We are no alien to several, battling boundaries that we try, like the rest of nature, to set. So don’t tell me about welfare, taxes, legislatures, or lobbyists. The state of nature is not opposed to politics. Even pinnipeds on a beach attempt to maintain their territorial allocations according to their mutual good. Government is not opposed to the state of war, but seeks a way to risk it with a minimum of risk, at least as far as is practical. Since we are men, not angels, we must be governed by threat of force. If you like, I’ll bop you on the head.