Ian, you should imagine how you would feel if after a few weeks in the volunteer fire department, Mark came back and said, "to hell with the FSP and liberty, I am running for the state legislature as a staunch conservative Republican, we'll get those shiny new fire engines, and some new police cars to boot, we'll just borrow the money, sell some bonds and then we can put some law and order down on these loony liberty activists!" He'd sound pretty empowered. In fact, I'm sure that having the resources of the state behind you is very empowering, but it ain't right. Well, that's how a bunch of us view this sudden embrace of silly hocus pocus.
You've thrown away rigorous rational analysis and a coherent world view that formed the basis of your excellent conclusions for some touchy feely garbage that gives you an Oprah style feeling of empowerment, and you've lost a lot of credibility in the process. If you can just change your mind based on nothing more than a feeling of something as amorphous as "empowerment," than what's to stop you just up and deciding to go all statist? I mean, if it's all just about what feels good and what's empowering, maybe when you get sick of getting the shaft from the state, you'll just throw up your hands and say, "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!"
It probably feels pretty good to those cops who strut around in their uniforms, getting chicks and all the unearned respect that comes with the badge. I'm sure they have a tremendous sense of power, I mean, we've all seen that in terrifying action, haven't we? I mean, if that's your guide, feeling all empowered and shit, then why not? If they feel better believing in the legitimacy of the state and enjoying the power it gives them than they would have otherwise, by your standard, they should absolutely do that. They'll wind up in a room with someone who wants to be violently interrogated anyway, since that's the way the universe works, right?