To be sure, one comes no closer to the truth if, in reaction to these and similar doctrines, one calls the state, with Nietzsche, the coldest of all cold monsters. The state is neither cold nor warm, for it is an abstract concept in whose name living men the organs of the state, the government act. All state activity is human action, an evil inflicted by men on men. The goal the preservation of society justifies the action of the organs of the state, but the evils inflicted are not felt as any less evil by those who suffer under them. The evil that a man inflicts on his fellow man injures both not only the one to whom it is done, but also the one who does it.
Nothing corrupts a man so much as being an arm of the law and making men suffer.
Liberalism seeks to take the sting out of the relationship of the government official to the citizen. In doing so, of course, it does not follow in the footsteps of those romantics who defend the antisocial behavior of the lawbreaker and condemn not only judges and policemen, but also the social order as such. Liberalism neither wishes to nor can deny that the coercive power of the state and the lawful punishment of criminals are institutions that society could never, under any circumstances, do without. However, the liberal believes that the purpose of punishment is solely to rule out, as far as possible, behavior dangerous to society. Punishment should not be vindictive or retaliatory.