Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: Notesfiles $Revision: 1.6.2.17 $; site uiucdcs.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxj!ihnp4!inuxc!pur-ee!uiucdcs!renner From: renner@uiucdcs.UUCP Newsgroups: net.politics Subject: Re: Re: gunpoint Message-ID: <29200157@uiucdcs.UUCP> Date: Fri, 12-Oct-84 18:19:00 EDT Article-I.D.: uiucdcs.29200157 Posted: Fri Oct 12 18:19:00 1984 Date-Received: Sun, 14-Oct-84 07:05:12 EDT References: <542@gloria.UUCP> Lines: 19 Nf-ID: #R:gloria:-54200:uiucdcs:29200157:000:875 Nf-From: uiucdcs!renner Oct 12 17:19:00 1984 > > Not everything the government does is extortion. Some of its > > activities are quite beneficent. The problem is that those > > activities, unless funded entirely by fees, are paid for by > > money taken by force. > > So? That's not extortion, because the government does it, and the majority > of people in the US support this form of tax collection. The difference > between "extortion" and "legitimate use of force" is whether it's done > by private individuals or by a democratically elected government. The difference you point out here is only one of legality. The act is the same regardless of whether it's done by individuals acting alone or individuals acting as an organized mob. Extortion is, by definition, the obtaining of a thing from another party by threat of force rather than by agreement. Scott Renner {pur-ee,ihnp4}!uiucdcs!renner