[NT!]

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But complaining about style rather than content is a good way to get a couple of ad hominems in while looking civil and sophisticated.

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See, you're just being nasty and snide. I've spent a lot of time addressing the content of your arguments, and doing my best to do so fairly.

"An ad hominem argument, also known as argumentum ad hominem (Latin: "argument to the person", "argument against the man") consists of replying to an argument by attacking or appealing to the person making the argument, rather than by addressing the substance of the argument."

Complaints about style are not ad hominems. Perhaps it's a 'meta-complaint' but I am not attacking you as a person.

I hear what bk is saying about catching baseless assumptions, but I think it's simple enough to take the time to respond to a baseless assumption in a normal discussion format. Regarding the complaint that it's a 'pain in the ass' to go back and forth, well, perhaps that's the cost of doing business. Taking the time to read and reread a post, and refer to it in a subsequent response, requires you to do your best to understand your counterpart's position and give it a fair shake.

Speaking of which, one thing I wanted to address before leaving:


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What you are saying is that anyone who supports, accepts or acknowledges the existence of coercive states in general has a completely illegitimate approach to politics.

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See, there you go again, using your personal definition of a word I use differently to frame my position incorrectly. And since I've explicitly called you on it, you must be doing it on purpose.

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I'm a little confused by this objection. Do you feel that including the word 'coercive' makes it redundant, because you view ALL states as initiators of illegitimate force? If so, feel free to remove the word 'coercive' from my formulation. I included it because we were discussing states, or state-like entities, that attempted to be legit and non-coercive.

If not, color me confused, and please elaborate.