Micah Tillman

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You want my answer? You got it:

The government of an area is the group in that area with the most power.

That’s it.

This definition implies that there can be a difference between the de facto government of an area and the “official” government of an area. (I.e., the difference between reality and claims about reality holds here, as in all other areas.)

The difference between Conservatives and Progressives/Liberals derives primarily from their disagreement over the type of power in question. For Conservatives, government primarily wields “physical” power. For Progressives, government primarily wields “economic” power.

________

More abstractly: For Conservatives, the type of power which a group has to have to be the most powerful group in an area (and therefore the de facto government of that area) is the type of power which only depends for its exercise on the will of the user.

Physical power (as instantiated in a blow to the face, a gun in the back, a barricade, handcuffs, swords, etc.) is such a power.

For Progressives, the type of power which a group has to have to be the most powerful group in an area (and therefore the de facto government of that area) is the type of power which depends on the wills of both the user (or “agent”) of the power and the person on whom the power is used (i.e., the “patient”).

Economic power (as instantiated in the exchange of money, goods, services, etc.) is such a power. (E.g., you can’t give people money if they won’t take it.)

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Tags: Conservative, Definition, Government, Liberal, Progressive