What Is a Government?

The Politics of Anxiety and the Logic of Destruction

by Melvin L. Rogers

What is a government?

It is a question we rarely ask. We assume we know the answer because we live under one. We think of it as a structure—offices and institutions, laws and policies, elected officials and public servants. But what does a government do?

The U.S. Constitution offers an answer: “to establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty.” These are not just high-minded ideals; they describe the essential role of government in people’s lives. A government provides stability where there is uncertainty, mitigates fears that individuals cannot confront alone, and ensures that no person is left at the mercy of forces beyond their control.

Our family, friends, partnerships—in short, our relationships—make life enjoyable. A government is what makes life livable.

But what happens when a government no longer functions this way? What happens when, instead of alleviating fear, it manufactures it? What happens when a government no longer shields people from anxiety, but instead weaponizes it as a tool of control?

Then, we do not have a government but a regime of domination.

* * *

Donald Trump does not govern in the traditional sense. He does not seek to administer, improve, or even reform. His vision of government is not one of problem-solving but of problem-creating.

Since his return to power, Trump has moved swiftly not to strengthen the government but to hollow it out—to replace governance with fear, stability with chaos, and order with precarity. His administration does not function to create security; it functions to create anxiety, making life uncertain for workers, immigrants, and even those within the government itself.

This is the early stage of authoritarianism: a government that no longer governs, but rules through uncertainty.

* * *

It started with a directive.

A notice from the Office of Personnel Management instructed federal agencies to compile lists of employees with poor performance evaluations over the past three years. Officially, the reason given was to improve efficiency. The term “efficiency” hides the real intention; it appeals to our desire for a government that functions effectively for us. In reality, the directive represented something entirely different: a coordinated effort to dismantle the civil service, pushing out experienced professionals and replacing them with political loyalists.

The toll of this is palpable. Broad reporting indicates that morale among federal workers is low as they face an uncertain future.

This is not how a functional government operates. It is a clear step toward authoritarianism, where institutions are stripped of independence, expertise is disregarded, and public servants become instruments of power rather than stewards of the public good. Those who once ensured the smooth operation of government are being systematically forced out, leaving behind a system that thrives not on stability or competence, but on fear and uncertainty.

What does it mean for a government when its workforce no longer serves the people but instead caters to the shifting whims of a leader? At that point, it ceases to be a government at all. It becomes an apparatus of control. And control is not about making your life livable so that you can seek enjoyment. The point is to enhance the life of the ruler.

* * *

This same pattern extends far beyond Washington, DC, impacting schools across the country.

Consider a recent story reported by CNN. In New York, a six-year-old girl repeatedly asks to see the school nurse—not because she is unwell, but because she is terrified. She fears that, by the time school ends, her mother will be gone—swept up in an immigration raid, detained, or forcibly removed.

This reflects the outcome of Trump’s immigration policies, which dismantled long-standing protections that used to shield schools, churches, and hospitals from immigration enforcement. These places—once viewed as sanctuaries—are now potential sites for family separation. No place feels truly safe anymore.

This isn't only about immigration enforcement. The goal is to create a sense of protection by removing “illegals”—people viewed as criminals. Across our communities, we come to watch each other suspiciously, carefully listening to the Amazon driver, the cashier, and the hotel worker, trying to detect an accent and wondering if they are here legally. We become entangled in the spectacle of deportation enforcement to normalize the ill-treatment of those not considered American citizens.

All this is about governing through intimidation and suspicion—ensuring that entire communities live in a state of chronic fear and instability.

What is a government when its policies do not protect, but instead terrorize? It is not a government. It is a mechanism of coercion.

* * *

If we see the government as a structure built to contain fear, then what Trump is doing becomes clear: He is not trying to repair the structure—he is tearing it down.

For years, Americans were told that the federal government was the enemy—that civil servants were part of a "deep state” working against them. Meanwhile, billionaires and oligarchs were portrayed as true patriots who should decide how America is run. That narrative set the stage for what is happening now: replacing governance with chaos, competence with loyalty, and stability with uncertainty.

There is no plan to govern. The plan is to dismantle governance itself—to create a vacuum in which only the strong, the wealthy, and the ruthless can survive. In such a world, ordinary people are left unprotected, exposed to the arbitrary force of power without recourse.

Abraham Lincoln warned of this long ago. In his now-famous 1838 Lyceum speech, he cautioned that the greatest threat to the republic would not come from an external enemy, but from within—from ambitious men who would not be satisfied with preserving a system built by others; instead, they would seek their own power by tearing it down.

“What! think you these places would satisfy an Alexander, a Caesar, or a Napoleon? Never! Towering genius disdains a beaten path. It seeks regions hitherto unexplored... If possible, it will have it, whether at the expense of emancipating slaves, or enslaving freemen.”

What he meant was simple: power, untethered from principle, does not seek to govern—it seeks to rule. And when governance becomes indistinguishable from fear, when institutions no longer provide security but only precarity, democracy is no longer democracy at all.

* * *

So again, we must ask: What is a government?

If government is only power, then Trump is governing. If it is only the ability to dictate what happens to people, he is succeeding.

But if government is something else—if it is about justice, security, the ability to live without fear—then what we are witnessing is not government at all.

It is destruction. Where destruction reigns, you can have neither a livable nor an enjoyable life. If government is meant to provide stability, then rejecting the forces that govern by destruction isn’t just an option—it is a necessity.