Government Scope

And baby I'll rule, 
I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule
Let me live that fantasy
--Lorde

The natural unit of government is the individual--i.e., self-government. God gifted us with the unalienable right to govern ourselves.

For various reasons, most of them nefarious, man has sought to expand the scope of government beyond himself. Stated differently, he seeks to govern others.

The possibilities range from reigning over a few nearby neighbors to dominion over multitudes spread far and wide. The categorical possibilities correspond to the geographic scopes associated with various units of expanded government:

local
state or provincial
national
regional
global

When the Constitution was in the process of being ratified, debate centered on whether government power should be tilted toward state or national authority--although many anti-federalists argued that only designs that brought more authority to the local level would be effective.

Ongoing disagreements in Europe center on power struggles between nations and regional government (i.e., the EU).

One-world socialists contend that all people on earth should be subject to a single governing body.

Man's persistent quest to expand the scope of government has quite literally put liberty under attack since the beginning of social time.