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Government is a monopoly of violence. We have a government because we think that it is important to have some violence in society, but the violence needs to be limited, and it is bad to allow people to commit acts of violence at will. So we give the government a monopoly of violence, and forbid everyone else from committing acts of violence, and try (not always successfully) to prevent the government from committing too many acts of violence.

The government can only enforce laws by violence or by the threat of violence. Any social program which does not require violence can be done better by nongovernment public service organizations. It does not make sense for social programs to be run by the government unless the social program requires violence.

If you are totally opposed to absolutely all forms of violence, then you should be opposed to all governments and all government programs, because the government does everything with violence. To reduce the amount of violence in society, we must shrink the government.

If you think that the government should punish murderers, then you think that we should use violence against murderers.

If you think that the government should punish thieves, then you think that we should use violence against thieves.

If you think that the government should punish polluters, then you think that we should use violence against polluters.

If you think that the government should tax the rich, then you think that we should use violence against rich people.

If you think that the government encourage a sense of community, then you think that we should use violence to create a sense of community.

If you think that the government should promote nonviolence, then you think that we should use violence to promote nonviolence.

Socialists and so called liberals often claim to be opposed to violence, but they want to enact more government programs based on violence. The real supporters of nonviolence are the people who want to shrink the government.

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