> It absolutely is consolation and justification for the majority of people who support that policy.
Yes, but not for the victim of the policy. Slavery used to be approved by the vast majority of society.
> You might not like it; but individual liberty is not unlimited and the will of society, right or wrong, beats the pants off any other form of government we've found.
I don't like it, and I don't want to replace it with another form of government. My whole point in this thread has been that government actions are indistinguishable from actions which are widely accepted to be crimes, except that government has convinced society that its actions are acceptable.
> The robber is taking something without giving something back; the government is taking their share of your wages for services rendered to you as a citizen. Completely different situations.
Fine then, change my analogy to a robber that takes 30% of your paycheck, uses part of it to blow up some people in other countries, part of it to feed the poor, part of it to pay prison companies to contain nonviolent criminals, and part of it to build some roads.
> except that government has convinced society that its actions are acceptable.
Government is society, we are our government, it is not some entity that has tricked everyone. It does what it does because open your eyes and look around, people want it doing those things.
But you're still just saying that violence is fine as long as >50% of society approves of it. And that's being gracious, since there's no reason to actually believe that >50% of society approves of the actions of the government.
Violence is a natural and inevitable human trait, and is not necessarily wrong. There are times when it is OK, and is even the right thing to do. What better way to determine what those times are than democratically?
Yes, but not for the victim of the policy. Slavery used to be approved by the vast majority of society.
> You might not like it; but individual liberty is not unlimited and the will of society, right or wrong, beats the pants off any other form of government we've found.
I don't like it, and I don't want to replace it with another form of government. My whole point in this thread has been that government actions are indistinguishable from actions which are widely accepted to be crimes, except that government has convinced society that its actions are acceptable.
> The robber is taking something without giving something back; the government is taking their share of your wages for services rendered to you as a citizen. Completely different situations.
Fine then, change my analogy to a robber that takes 30% of your paycheck, uses part of it to blow up some people in other countries, part of it to feed the poor, part of it to pay prison companies to contain nonviolent criminals, and part of it to build some roads.