IMO they are here to provide social order and basic security. locke said that without government, people live in the "state of nature". hobbes described the state of nature as "a war of all aganist all" where life is "solitary, nasty, brutish and short" the main problem with the state of nature is there is no protection of your property, your liberty or even your life from anyone else. "the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must." hamilton wrote "Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint.” thomas paine: "Society is produced by our wants, and government by wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher. Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil."