Some claim that we must tolerate the idea of a State as a necessary evil. Such hostile attitudes come from the fact that many see only today’s bloated and dysfunctional State and consequently have confused notions of what constitutes society, nation, State and government. We think that the State is the political organization and order of the nation; its role is to safeguard the common good and facilitate virtuous life in common. How can the proper notion of the State be restored?