I'm adding a simple idea.
A good government shall be close to a concierge in a large building. Making sure the alleys and the stairs are clean, and preventing some tenants to be loud at night, but most of the time staying silent and not interfering in any way in people's lives.
The problem of this analogy is that whenever you ask this concierge for anything you have to remember that they are also the armed guard, they spread the cost on the bill of everyone staying at the building, and if the residents don't pay for that, they can get imprisoned or worse. And somewhere along the way someone asked the concierge to bug all the rooms in the hotel and put that on your tab.