[dragonwriter]

The "government" doesn't exist independently of the people (even when it fails to represent them equally, either through unequal interest or unequal capacity to exert influence.) It is a mechanism through which the people "stand up for themselves to get" things that they want.

[MadManE]

Any kind of government is a beast that feeds on the fears of the weak and the abilities of the strong. Pretending that it is simply a machine that produces an output based on the input signal of the voters is disingenuous.