What Does It Mean to Govern?

When a politician declares that he is “ready to govern,” what does he mean by “govern”? The Oxford English Dictionary tells us that the verb “to govern” came from a French word and first appeared in English in the 14th century. In its intransitive form, it meant “to direct or control the actions and affairs of a people or place” (OED, accessed on July 2, 2024).

What we may call the naïve conception of governing sees it as a way to please everybody, to make everybody happier. But it is not...