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If physical force is to be barred from social relationships, men
need an institution charged with the task of protecting their rights
under an objective code of rules.
This is the task of a government - of a proper
government - its basic task, its only moral justification and the
reason why men do need a government.
A government is the means of placing the retaliatory use of
physical force under objective control - i.e., under
objectively defined laws.
-- Ayn Rand, "The Nature of Government," The Virtue of Selfishness
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