"As an institution it (government) must function in compliance with the will of human agents. Its primary function is to protect the property rights of members of the population in the ownership of the material elements of society...Since it (government) is the main instrument for insuring the continued reproduction of wealth in its characteristic form, it may be viewed as wealth personified. Put another way those who control this institution, as distinct from those who function within it, are the personifications of wealth." - (Hogan, The Principles of Black Political Economy)
"...To carry out its mission it must organize and use resources...But it must function within the very rules it establishes, while at the same time standing above these rules as final arbiter in matters under dispute...Its power is absolute over all the members of the population. It garners unto itself a monopoly of force and violence to be used as its own dictates demand." (Hogan, ibid.)
If Professor Hogan is correct about the potential for violence that governments possess, why is such force necessary? It would seem that the answer to that question lies in the need for the wealth accumulators to protect their rights to disproportionately own materials that provide the "necessaries and conveniences" of human life. And so, pioneering political economist Adam Smith wrote, "Wherever there is great property there is great inequality. For one very rich man there must be at least five hundred poor...The affluence of the rich excites the indignation of the poor, who are often driven by want, and prompted by envy, to invade his possessions. It is only under the shelter of the civil magistrate that the owner of that valuable property - can sleep a single night in security." (Wealth of Nations, Book V, by Adam Smith)
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