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Quote by: grandpa  Yes it is. It uses coercion even in its simplest, most benign functions.
Grandpa h. |
This is a vast oversimplification and if you do not know it, you should. I do not have to be coerced to pay my taxes. I pay them because I know that it is necessary. Government does not coerce me much at all. It coerces me into not smoking pot anymore and it coerces me into not being able to marry who I want, but otherwise I am pretty free of coercion. It delivers paved roads and an education and an army to protect me and protection against ecoli laced hamburger meat and helps to secure my right to say what I want about politics and read whatever books I choose to read, it keeps fire trucks at the ready in case my house catches on fire and policemen on the streets to catch those who need to be coerced into not stealing my VCR and car, and it helps pay for research into illnesses that might affect me or a member of my family. It does thousands of other things for me that I have not even mentioned and in the ballance, I am pretty satisfied. In the ballance, most people would rather have the government we have than no government because most people never need to be coerced by our government in any but small ways. Most people are happy, in ballance with the level of coercion they need to endure to get THE REWARDS OF GOVERNMENT THAT ARE IT'S ACTUAL PURPOSE, because coercion is a tool government uses to accomplish it's purpose, not it's reason for existing, as you claim.