[gdulli]

They're saying the subject of the headline is a mistake. Not that the mistake is believing that's the purpose of government.

[dnautics]

What exactly is the purpose of government?

[sdenton4]

I'm pretty sure it has something to do with caves. Someone wrote a book about it once.

http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/republic.html

(Less sarcastically, the Republic transitions pretty quickly from a discussing of "what's a good life" to "how can we structure society (and government) to help people live well?" It's a good book, even if the conclusions are a bit suspect.)