The importance of government in modern society

Political Refutations

Government is a central institution in any society, and understanding its function and purpose is fundamental to understanding the order in which we live. The most important reason we should know about its existence is that it is the only entity capable of establishing and administering political power , making social decisions, and maintaining public order. Without government, there would be no laws, no structure, and no viable form of social organization.

Government, in essence, is the organizational totality of the State , not an isolated and inert entity. Its presence is constant in all aspects of daily social life, from education to transportation and food regulation. It is impossible to evade its existence, since it regulates even the roads we travel and the rights we exercise. In modernity, government has acquired an omnipresent function, comparable to the idea of ​​a divine entity, present in every corner of society.

Law is the government's main instrument for exercising its authority . Laws legitimize its existence and its ability to command. All political currents, regardless of their ideology, recognize the need for a government, whether in its most minimal form (liberalism) or in its most extreme form (socialism). The legitimacy of government is based on the need for order and the structuring of society through norms established by law.

Constitutions, like the Constitution of the United States of America, were designed not to grant rights in the first instance, but to structure governmental power . The first thing that America's founders thought about was not individual rights, but the structure of government: legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The organization of power precedes the guarantee of rights, because without a structured government, there would be no means of enforcing those guarantees.

The State is the legitimate political community that creates and structures the government that justifies its existence based on the need to establish order and administer power. Sovereignty , understood as the absolute and perpetual power of a republic, is the essence of all government. The Constitution of each country is the document that legitimizes and organizes this exercise of power.

The government, through sovereignty, exercises its authority in various areas, such as the judiciary . Every time a judge passes sentence, he does so in the name of the sovereign power of the State. This exercise of power is inevitable and omnipresent. It is not possible to avoid submission to a government, regardless of the political form that a society adopts.

Human rights do not exist by themselves; they are the product of a political, social and ideological construction. One is not born with inherent rights; it is society that grants them through agreements and established norms. A clear example is the right to education : at a given moment, a society may decide that education is a universal right, but in another context, a political majority could eliminate it. Every person is born naked, with no clothes and no rights; it is time, circumstance and institutions that clothe human beings with clothes and rights.

The exercise of power is not always based on rationality, but on a series of political, ideological and economic factors. Government decisions can be influenced by interests that go beyond logic and reason. Therefore, it is crucial to understand that the government not only administers power, but also defines the rules of the game based on changing circumstances and specific contexts.

Government is an unavoidable entity in society. Its main function is to guarantee order and political structure through law and sovereignty. Without a government, there would be no laws, no organization, and no viable social structure. The relationship between rulers and governed is an inevitable reality, where power is exercised legitimately through established norms .

Understanding the function of government is essential to understanding the society in which we live. Politics, laws, and the administration of power are fundamental elements that structure our daily reality. The question is not whether there should be a government, but how it should be structured to ensure a balance between power and the rights of citizens .