In re: "Our thoughts about the state, government and individuals seem to be very surface level, and limited to an almost instinctual grasp of what states are" - My theory is that most people think of states as being monarchies where by some accident of history the monarch happened to be replaced by a committee (of one kind or another).
Phrases about "consent of the governed" or "popular sovereignty" mean that there is some kind of lip service being paid to the fact that the committee who is doing the old king's job might have to answer for how they rule; but that's all internal, court-politics-level stuff -in terms of the way people think about their country as a whole, it is still more or less a monarchy (or at least wearing the monarchy's vestments) when it goes to dinner with the other countries.
In re: "Our thoughts about the state, government and individuals seem to be very surface level, and limited to an almost instinctual grasp of what states are" - My theory is that most people think of states as being monarchies where by some accident of history the monarch happened to be replaced by a committee (of one kind or another).
Phrases about "consent of the governed" or "popular sovereignty" mean that there is some kind of lip service being paid to the fact that the committee who is doing the old king's job might have to answer for how they rule; but that's all internal, court-politics-level stuff -in terms of the way people think about their country as a whole, it is still more or less a monarchy (or at least wearing the monarchy's vestments) when it goes to dinner with the other countries.