[quote=ShonHarris]Violence is not the cornerstone of legitimate authority. One can lead and gain trust through an assortment of avenues using intellect, experience, perceived power (ex. Claiming position granted by a deity, or the classic American 'God Wills It'), and so on. Violence is totally one way to gain authority, sure, but it's also a lazy way that opens numerous other issues. Like children who hold their resentment and learn to hide their undesirable habits for when authority looks away, so to do the people. A violent leader may well have a population that looks true on the surface, but is in fact quite dishonest behind their backs.
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I'm not discounting the value of intellect, compassion, learning, merely accounting for the role of force (and it should be noted that up until now, we've been talking about 'over the line' criminal types). Prison walls can't be guarded by teachers. [i]They can and should [b]contain[/b] teachers![/i] But they are built with hammers, lined with razor wire, manned with guns, dotted with floodlights. All of the beautiful things we've accomplished as a species are made possible largely by our capacity for violence. I don't see that as a flaw. All power is an exercise of force, compulsion. Many wonderful things are done by people without power, without the capacity to exert force upon others, and I think that's fantastic. Still, Rome was built of blood, not marble, and if it wasn't for the musket, New York would be longhouses. Maybe that would have been better. I think acknowledging the nature of authority is a crucial part of its just application -- one we too often miss, when we get caught up talking about how things ought to be.