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Thomas Jefferson

The Necessity of Government

We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness --That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men...
Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence

A Government is an organization in a specific geographic location which is dominant in physical force. Government is necessary to ensure the proper use of force. For this reason, it must specify objective laws to clarify the use of force, and it must have the ability to enforce these laws.

The purpose of government is to protect the individual rights of its citizens. Since rights can be assaulted both within a country or outside of it, the government must deal with either threat. This requires an army for defense of the country, and a police system to protect the individual citizens from other individuals within the country.

To ensure that rights are upheld properly, the judgment of the use of force must be objective. Since individuals involved in an incident are not likely to be objective, it is the government's job to judge the individual use of force by its citizens. For this reason, the government must provide a court system. Laws are the tools by which the court decides if a use of force is valid or not.