“The State exists simply to promote and to protect the ordinary happiness of human beings in this life. A husband and wife chatting over a fire, a couple of friends having a game of darts in a pub, a man reading a book in his own room or digging his own garden--that is what the State is there for. And unless they are helping to increase and prolong and protect such moments, all the laws, parliaments, armies, courts, police, economics, etc., are simply a waste of time.” — C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
The household is the primary building block of all human progress and God's design for its dominion of the earth. A man is given a wife and a plot of land and told to be fruitful and to multiply. That means making more people and cultivating more land until all of it is dominated by the image of God.
The State exists in order to ensure men play fair as they bump into one another. The State is the deacon of God's wrath according to Romans 13 and as such, it is given the sword in order to adjudicate justice when one man violate's another man's life, liberty, or property. Justice ensures that men are free to live and move and have their being in God's good world according to His good Word for everyone and His unique call for each individual. That largely reduces to being able to live on your land with your family without hearing from or having to do anything for or with the local magistrate. A good government’s aim is to let its people live in peace and quiet, interfering only when some won't let others live without leaving well enough alone.
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