Isn't a representative government the opposite? When a large number of people work together to decide to funs or accomplish some goal, voting and taxes
No it's not. Any form of government is an attempt at centralization of resources and decisions. It is an attempt to move closer to an extreme system of singular decisions with a single point of resources. You do tend to see these concentrated centralized structures within government. Leaders, central banks, executive branch, centralized resources.... etc. Although It's not fully centralized, the creation of government from no government is essentially movement in the direction of centralization. So in other words:
The point of government IS centralization. The US government is sort of an attempt at centralization with checks and balances. An attempt to make sure that the centralization doesn't become too powerful. A movement towards the extreme but not all the way.
So the liberal western form is not an exercise in working together towards some mutual goal. Rather it is in satisfying some baseline level of acceptance of how society works, property rights, etc. Power comes from the people, not by divine mandate or military might.
Right, but that was my point. Its a step closer to people coming together to accomplish or fund some goal instead of just some rich guy saying "I have money, I'm paying you all to so this now"
It doesn't have to be a rich guy. But some form of centralized rich power. Like a corporation for example. But even complex structures like this involve a cluster of individuals who own the corporation or have seats of power within the structure. This small population of people controls wealth and resources and deploys it accordingly.
In the beginning though, before complex structures like corporations formed, civilization began with rich guys telling poor guys what to do.
The point of government IS centralization. The US government is sort of an attempt at centralization with checks and balances. An attempt to make sure that the centralization doesn't become too powerful. A movement towards the extreme but not all the way.