Ungoverned man will eventually get up to no good. The ancient Greeks understood this, but apparently failed to see that self-governed man is often not much better. Except, of course, for Aristotle and Plato. Aristotle claimed the ideal government (or constitution, as he called it) is a benevolent monarchy in which the king rules according to the needs and desires of the people. His teacher, Plato, opted for a whole group of philosopher-kings as heads of a communal society dependent on cooperation and education for its success. Man has discussed and tried to implement a variety of "utopias" ever since.
According to St. Paul, the purpose of government is to uphold good and punish evil. Usually we assume government's purpose is to take money from people who need it and give it to people who don't, in which case it's doing the opposite of what it should. But political theory debates are often not about what government should do, as in how it should do it.
A poorly run government will have unhappy and possibly revolutionary citizens. The solution is not to make the people happy, however, but to learn to govern well.This is typically the nature of political theory in its philosophical and ethical context—what method of rule will work best, given the typical behavior of mankind? Christians know that proper government must adhere to biblical principles, even if it doesn't specifically acknowledge them to be such. We can't let pragmatism and emotional feeling misdirect us from the pursuit of a truly godly and well-governed society.
Did you find this review helpful?