blue trane's Journal: Petr Kropotkin, Mutual Aid

It was necessary to indicate the overwhelming importance which sociable habits play in Nature and in the progressive evolution of both the animal species and human beings: to prove that they secure to animals a better protection from their enemies, very often facilities for getting food and (winter provisions, migrations, etc.), longevity, therefore a greater facility for the development of intellectual faculties; and that they have given to men, in addition to the same advantages, the possibility of working out those institutions which have enabled mankind to survive in its hard struggle against Nature, and to progress, notwithstanding all the vicissitudes of its history.

From http://www.calresco.org/texts/mutaidi.htm

It seems to me that govt (such as the US Govt) exhibits "sociable habits" by providing for the common defence and the general welfare; providing food, healthcare and heating assistance for needy individuals; providing free education to help develop the mental faculties; etc. Therefore govt exhibits altruism, and as a result the United States has become the world's #1 economy and superpower...