I was just reading one of JRR Tolkien’s letters in which he expressed the idea that “government” as a concept or a process seems necessary, at least to some degree. But “Government” as a “thing”, as a faceless bureaucracy ruling over other people, is simply a great evil.
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Tolkien’s Ring represents, obviously, the corrupting power of government. Almost everyone who wields it becomes corrupted by it and won’t willingly relinquish the power it gives them. The Ring eventually owns them and destroys their body and soul, such as in the case of Gollum.
I always wondered what people meant by “the ring”, I never saw that movie about those gnomes.