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Old 09-16-2005, 04:39 AM
Cyrus Cyrus is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Tundra
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Default Undeterred

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The police generally do not protect people from bodily harm; they respond after the fact. So if Peter were entirely unhindered in protecting himself from bodily harm, I don't much doubt that he would be able to do a better job of that than the police.

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The notion of the police (also) acts as a deterrent. If me and a dozen buddies gang up on Peter and beat him up or kill him, the police will go after us. Without any police, this would not be a consideration. My gang's only consideration would be if Peter has a gang of his own!

It is silly, even if only arithmetically, to argue that one's strength is equal to the strength of many. It is equally silly to argue that the threat of one's force is stronger than the threat of the force of many.
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