I don’t agree with Freud that any government is repressive of human nature. I instead believe that humans are social creatures and the formation of some sort of hierarchy is inevitable. Either way, I don’t see government as entirely positive or negative; I do recognize that governments are meant to bring law and order in an effort to protect their citizens, but often times bring harm in the process. The alternative, returning to the state of nature, does not seem like the better option to me as it is undeniable that the formation of governments has been a net positive for humanity.
I called governments a net positive because there are many negatives that have come with the formations of governments over the centuries. It is still pointless to blame the structures themselves for this, as the people behind them hold all the power. Governments are just as artificial as the concepts of marriage or currency. I’m not here to answer whether humans are fundamentally good or bad, but I will tell you that there are plenty of them who have used their positions of power for their own selfish reasons. The faces of oppression Young brought forth don’t exist because of government, but because of the humans running them. Overall I don’t see governments as going against human nature, instead, I see them as an invention by humans to better organize and create a society based on the common good.
