It is not impossible for a government to act as a mafia (see Russia). But I believe it's impossible for a mafia to be a functional government, they are just built on different grounds.
For me a functional government has the wellbeing of its citizens as a mission. There might be different opinions on how that would look like (hence democracy) but the idea is that; once the government is unchangeable and only cares about maximising the profits of its cadre then it starts becoming more and more like a mafia, just a legalised one.
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It is not impossible for a government to act as a mafia (see Russia). But I believe it's impossible for a mafia to be a functional government, they are just built on different grounds.
For me a functional government has the wellbeing of its citizens as a mission. There might be different opinions on how that would look like (hence democracy) but the idea is that; once the government is unchangeable and only cares about maximising the profits of its cadre then it starts becoming more and more like a mafia, just a legalised one.
I'm reading the Black Book of Communism and that's my exact impression of the Bolsheviks.
From Goodfellas: "If we wanted something we just took it. If anyone complained twice they got hit so bad, believe me, they never complained again".
That was the Bolsheviks circa 1920.