The dominant form of government in the world today is dictatorship. Further throughout history, dictatorship has been the commonest form of governmen… - Gordon Tullock

The modern state is largely a mechanism for transferring funds from one person to another. What we economists call public goods are provided by the state but are now only a part of it. The United States is not as far along in this procedure as many other countries, but in our case the federal government pays out in various types of transfers a significant percent of the amount it collects in taxes. Most of the European countries are even more dominated by the legacy of Bismarck.

A government does not, in general, just go about the world doing good. It has to be pushed into it.

What is important will be manipulated by the government.