My point of departure in this essay is Smith’s definition of government. “Civil government,” he writes, “so far as it is instituted for the security of property, is in reality instituted for the defence of the rich against the poor, or of those who have some property against those who have none at all.” First I unpack Smith’s definition of government as the protection of the rich against the poor. I argue that, on Smith’s view, this is always part of what government is for. I then turn to the question of what, according to Smith, our governors can do to protect the wealth of the rich from the resentment of the poor. I consider, and reject, the idea that Smith might conceive of education as a means of alleviating the resentment of the poor at their poverty. I then describe how, in his lectures on jurisprudence, Smith refines and develops Hume’s taxonomy of the opinions upon which all government rests. The sense of allegiance to government, according to Smith, is shaped by instinctive deference to natural forms of authority as well as by rational, Whiggish considerations of utility. I argue that it is the principle of authority that provides the feelings of loyalty upon which government chiefly rests. It follows, I suggest, that to the extent that Smith looked to government to protect the property of the rich against the poor, and thereby to maintain the peace and stability of society at large, he cannot have sought to lessen the hold on ordinary people of natural sentiments of deference. In addition, I consider the implications of Smith’s theory of government for the question of his general attitude toward poverty. I argue against the view that Smith has recognizably “liberal,” progressive views of how the poor should be treated. Instead, I locate Smith in the political culture of the Whiggism of his day.

中文翻译：

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保护富人对抗穷人：亚当·史密斯的政治经济学中的政治

我在这篇文章中的出发点是斯密对政府的定义。“公民政府，”他写道，“只要它是为了财产安全而设立的，实际上是为了保护富人对抗穷人，或者保护有财产的人对抗没有财产的人。 ” 首先，我解开史密斯对政府的定义，即保护富人免受穷人的侵害。我认为，在史密斯看来，这始终是政府的一部分。然后我转向一个问题，根据史密斯的说法，我们的州长可以做些什么来保护富人的财富免受穷人的怨恨。我考虑并拒绝了史密斯可能将教育视为减轻穷人对贫困的怨恨的一种观点。然后我描述了在他的法学讲座中，史密斯改进并发展了休谟对所有政府所依赖的意见的分类法。斯密认为，对政府的忠诚感是由对自然形式权威的本能顺从以及对效用的理性、辉格式考虑形成的。我认为，正是权威原则提供了政府主要依赖的忠诚感。因此，我认为，在史密斯指望政府保护富人的财产免受穷人侵害，从而维护整个社会的和平与稳定的情况下，他不可能试图减少对普通民众的控制顺从的自然情感。此外，我考虑了斯密的政府理论对他对贫困的一般态度问题的影响。我反对这样一种观点，即史密斯对应该如何对待穷人有公认的“自由”、进步的观点。相反，我将史密斯定位在他那个时代辉格主义的政治文化中。