But that is not the whole picture. Government also aims to help those who are trying to be good, and raise their children to be so. But they continue to exist for the sake of living well . Partly, that means material prosperity. But governments often fail to help people who are trying to be good.
Governments have a tendency to become degraded and corrupt.
For modern liberals this is not a problem because they have a peculiar understanding of these terms. They think that working at a minimum-wage job is degrading, but welfare is not. They think that private business turning a profit is corrupt, but redistribution of income is not. For them, the private sector is the problem, government is the solution. Most conservatives believe the opposite.