As I mentioned in a comment on Mr. Salyer’s article, to govern simply means to coerce, in some form or other. This is just a definitional truth.
In the state of fallen nature, governing may require coercing, the threat of punishment, but to govern is merely to order the community with respect to the common good. I am not sure about how good the essay is; certainly it doesn't address Mr. Carter's presuppositions about the ordering of the economy. Mr. Carter attributes wrongly his freedom to choose and pursue a certain lifestyle to liberalism, when it is actually due to the type of economy that we have and his relative wealth. Liberalism may be used to defend the marriage of ["democratic"] government and big business, but it is not the cause.
I don't think much progress will be made with respect to convincing Mr. Carter.
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