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<blockquote data-quote="Korgoth" data-source="post: 3479311" data-attributes="member: 49613">OK.&nbsp; Well, I'll explain myself very, very briefly because I don't want to violate the &quot;no politics&quot; policy... but this is not really politics, really more like &quot;theory&quot;.My prime example of the state promoting/enforcing virtue, which lots of states (including mine) actually do: enforced almsgiving, otherwise known as taxing you and then spending some of it for giving housing, food and medical care to poor people (i.e. social welfare).&nbsp; This is actually the state enforcing virtue... it is violently confiscating your property and paying alms with it.&nbsp; Don't think it's violent?&nbsp; Oh, but it is.&nbsp; If you don't pay your taxes, you will be forcibly detained... the police will come and arrest you for &quot;tax evasion&quot;.&nbsp; If you don't go with those police, they will use violence on you.&nbsp; If you &quot;defend yourself&quot;, you will be subject to violence so obvious you won't be able to mistake it for something else.&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile&nbsp; &nbsp; :)"&nbsp; data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />&nbsp;&nbsp; But, even though I'm a dyed-in-the-wool believer in taxation for social welfare, it is nonetheless very clearly a case of the state violently appropriating private wealth for almsgiving, i.e. material aid to the poor.&nbsp; If you try to avoid giving your hard-earned wealth to the poor in this way you will be jailed.&nbsp; If you try to avoid being jailed, you will be beaten.&nbsp; If you try to avoid being beaten, you will probably be gravely injured or killed.&nbsp; Nevertheless, we don't technically say that the state is &quot;robbing&quot; you, though one might say that if angry, because robbery is really the unlawful appropriation of goods by violence, whereas this is a violent but lawful appropriation.&nbsp; And because of this organized violent appropriation, some guy who doesn't have a nickel over a can of beans gets to feed his family tonight using food stamps, and they get to have a roof over their heads.&nbsp; Lawful Good in action, baby.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Korgoth, post: 3479311, member: 49613"] OK. Well, I'll explain myself very, very briefly because I don't want to violate the "no politics" policy... but this is not really politics, really more like "theory". My prime example of the state promoting/enforcing virtue, which lots of states (including mine) actually do: enforced almsgiving, otherwise known as taxing you and then spending some of it for giving housing, food and medical care to poor people (i.e. social welfare). This is actually the state enforcing virtue... it is violently confiscating your property and paying alms with it. Don't think it's violent? Oh, but it is. If you don't pay your taxes, you will be forcibly detained... the police will come and arrest you for "tax evasion". If you don't go with those police, they will use violence on you. If you "defend yourself", you will be subject to violence so obvious you won't be able to mistake it for something else. :) But, even though I'm a dyed-in-the-wool believer in taxation for social welfare, it is nonetheless very clearly a case of the state violently appropriating private wealth for almsgiving, i.e. material aid to the poor. If you try to avoid giving your hard-earned wealth to the poor in this way you will be jailed. If you try to avoid being jailed, you will be beaten. If you try to avoid being beaten, you will probably be gravely injured or killed. Nevertheless, we don't technically say that the state is "robbing" you, though one might say that if angry, because robbery is really the unlawful appropriation of goods by violence, whereas this is a violent but lawful appropriation. And because of this organized violent appropriation, some guy who doesn't have a nickel over a can of beans gets to feed his family tonight using food stamps, and they get to have a roof over their heads. Lawful Good in action, baby. [/QUOTE]

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