The Castle Doctrine
An individual laying claim to exclusive possession of a tract of land is a proto-government, purporting, as governments do, to have jurisdiction over a particular territory. His home is indeed his castle. Government per se should be understood as nothing more than a confederacy (or confederacy of confederacies) of such proto-governments, instituted among them to secure their claims. How big should such a confederacy become, and how much wealth and power should be delegated to the confederacy itself by its proto-governments, recognizing that such power may very easily become a threat to the proto-governments themselves? Assuming the confederacy is intent on security rather than predation, the answer to this question would presumably be that the confederacy should be no bigger and no more powerful than is necessary to defend itself from external threats to its security. Notably, the smallest countries in the world, some of which have existed for centuries, seem to be doing just fine.
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