What Is the State and Who Controls It?
What is the state, from whence does it come, and who controls it? One might suppose these questions have obvious answers. In reality the answer is elusive, not easily identified even by those who are part of the system.
Trump found this out in his first term. He naturally assumed that the president would be in charge, at least as regards the executive branch. He found out otherwise when the agencies worked closely with the media to undermine him at every step. After a four-year hiatus, he came back with a real determination to be the president.
It’s easier said than done. Cabinet-level appointees frequently complain in private that they face intractable bureaucracies with all institutional knowledge. They often feel like stand-ins or mannequins. Trump is the unusual president who has even attempted to be in charge. Most are just happy for the emoluments of office and the plaudits that come with it.
In any case, anyone who reaches the heights in any state apparatus discovers that it is something different from anything described in the textbooks.
Plato conceived of the state as organic to life itself, mirroring the structure of the human soul. The polity was divided between the rulers (philosopher-kings), the guardians (warriors), and the producers (workers). The state exists to achieve justice, where each class performs its designated role harmoniously.
Aristotle offered a more realistic view. While the state is organic, it is not soulful. It has definite functions to promote the well-being of all through laws and education, balancing the interests of different classes. Aristotle favored a mixed government to prevent tyranny and promote stability.
Moving forward to the Enlightenment period, theories of the state in the West evolved with the advance of technology and economics. Thomas Hobbes saw the state as essential for stopping civil war between factions. Without it, life would be solitary, nasty, brutish, and short. To be sure, he was writing in the midst of the English Civil War.
