I agree with your conclusion but not really your reasoning. There are countless things the government can’t do, which individual people can do. I can respect an

I agree with your conclusion but not really your reasoning. There are countless things the government can’t do, which individual people can do. I can respect an establishment of religion. I can spend money without a transparent and disinterested tender process. Etc etc. You seem to be taking a very literalistic, almost theological reading of “the government is the people” - yes, the people choose and appoint a government to represent them, but hopefully you understand that the government isn’t metaphysically the same thing as the people. Saying “the government is the people” is much like saying “the shareholders are the managers of the company”: yes, that’s true in an oblique, ideal sense, but you’re going to run into trouble if you start trying to literally substitute the one for the other in random sentences.