Why do they call us "subjects?" Aren't we more like inventory?
To remind us that we are state property. Inventory, if you wish :-) We have been subjugated. We exist to pay taxes to our owners; the older word for this was paying "tribute," at swordpoint.
Government is tax herding. We, the people, are the herd. There is nothing about government that can't be explained by 1) the Mafia protection racket, and 2) a good manual on animal husbandry.