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“In the end, government exists to protect the rights of individuals. It does not exist to protect society, least of all from itself. This is because society is not something that can be protected. Society emerges from the interactions of its members over time. “Protecting society” has no real meaning, precisely because society is always a work in progress. It is constantly refining itself. To “protect society” would be to freeze it, or some aspect of it, in place. And this would destroy society by contradicting its very nature as an emergent phenomenon. So when we use coercive methods in an attempt to “protect society” rather than the individuals who comprise it, we end up with things like the Salem Witch Trials, the Trail of Tears, black chattel slavery, Japanese internment, and numerous other offenses.” — Antony Davies