> ... competing authority like academia or media or church These are beholden to themselves, their owners, and to a deity, while the government (in theory at l

> ... competing authority like academia or media or church These are beholden to themselves, their owners, and to a deity, while the government (in theory at least) is supposed to be beholden to the governed. There are many problems solved by a government, it's easy to ignore them because we assume they are a given and only think about the marginal issues that ail us at present.