The context of this quote is a discussion about Israel’s desire for a king…

It is easy to forget that “we the people” in the long run must always pay for whatever the government does for us. Only fools suppose that by committing a matter to the government, they can get it done for nothing. Still worse, human government not only makes the people pay for everything done for them, but it always makes them pay more than it should cost. For only a part of the wealth taken by the government ever comes back to the people in services.

–Alva J. McClain, The Greatness of the Kingdom, p. 108.