The peoples feelings actually do play a large role in what it means to be united. The entire reason why there's a collective effort towards increasing the quality of life and maintaining laws is specifically because we know how bad those feelings can be.

The reason why assault is illegal is because pain hurts, and the reason why we all push in the same direction and collectively strive towards the same goals are to chase positive incentives and run from the negatives. Emotions are the primary motivating factor in almost every single decision we can make as human beings, and the choice to be united is most certainly born from an emotional desire.