Is the government us?

In the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling on the health care reform law, there will be plenty of debates over the role of the government vis-a-vis our health.  But I think there's a more important metaphysical problem that the debate over healthcare illuminates. It's the theme that Matthew J. Franck talks about in his post about the Christian response to the ruling at the Washington Post today.  He points out that "Some will claim that the responsibility for 'the least of these' necessarily falls chiefly on government, because government really is all of us." In the rest of the essay, he articulates and endorses the opposite claim.  My gut tends to agree with him.  I've always thought that there was something Hobbesian about the claim that the government's actions are my own, or that the government was some sort of incarnation of the will of the people.  Anyone with eyes could see that that is not true in practice. 

So what about the idea?  If the government is not an incarnation of the people's will in practice, is it that in theory?  This, I think, is one of the most pressing metaphysical political questions of our age.  If a government performs an act of mercy, if they heal they "sick, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the prisoner, and comfort the afflicted," (Matt. 24:45) who gets credit for that act? Is it the whole society? Is it me or you? Does anyone get credit for it?  Is an act of mercy at all? These are rather important questions, and their implications go far beyond health care.  I fear, however, that these questions will be either skimmed over or ignored in the coming political rabble.