Since I invoked Knight's name, and Mary picked up on it, let me just add that altho Knight believed that government action was necessarily coercive, he believed the coercion was necessary (if lamentable). Just as he believed that order was as essential to society as freedom (and in conflict with it), he also believed that force was as necessary as voluntary exchange (and obviously the two were in conflict). I might add that Knight often argued that love and force were, in the final analysis, equal (the point being, that "love" was a poor reason for social action). He was ever the cynic. Ross Ross B. Emmett, Augustana University College, Camrose, Alberta CANADA T4V 2R3 voice: (403) 679-1517 fax: (403) 679-1129 e-mail: [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask]