The government is not very different from organized crime.

While I agree with you statement that government is corrupted by money, that makes no difference here. The fact that you are able to vote and elect your representative in a democratic process is fundamentally different than a mafia organization which inflict itself upon you. It's all in the pronouns: WE are the government, but there is no WE in mafia- it's THEY. Yes, money is power in the United States but money is a form of wealth, and wealth has driven basically every organization in human history, so I don't really see how this is a commonality specific to the US govt. and mafia. My last point really undermines every other point you make. You say taxes are extortion like taxes because it's a mutual agreement, but we elect members of the congress who set tax rates. If we decided to elect members to lower the tax rate to zero, we theoretically could. Moreover, there wasn't even a national income tax until 1914 in this country because it was unconstitutional till we amended the Constitution. There is no document universally protecting your rights when it comes to the mob- it's their way or the highway. And it's not exactly mutual when the choice is between damaging your property and extorting money. Taxes are simply part of the social contract in a democracy. There is no difference structurally between the mob in Italy and in the United States. We're not speaking of organized crime in general, such as gangs or the Russian "mafia". The Italian Mafia (aka. the Mafia) in America is very traditional and deviates little from the Sicilian model. Again, the US govt and the Italian mafia both have stratification based upon merit but that is like every organization pretty much as well. Are the boy scouts like the mafia because you move up? come on. You can show all the presidents that served in the military but it doesn't prove much. Many populist politicians rose from nothing to dominate state and national political scenes. Moreover, many state govts use the initiative and referendum process which enables direct lawmaking. Nothing like that in the mob. The principle difference between the US and the mob in terms of justice is that we have a code which defines crimes. A man could have sex with a boss's wife and be killed, but if a man has sex with the president's wife, the president wouldn't be able to practice unlimited punishment. Our Bill of Rights protects the innocent from cruel punishment, gives the innocence into proved guilty, an attorney and right to trial by peers. Find me a mafia like that. So I conclude, your arguments fall into two categories: those similarities that are common to most organizational structures (ie. merit, hierarchy, wealth, corruption) and those which simply don't work (ie. taxes are extortion, citizens are equivalent to subjects, etc.). As I have proved, the relationship between the US govt and Mob, and the electorate and extorted is not direct or similar. A man under the rule of the feudal dictator is fundamentally different than under a democratically elected president. While a dictator may be assassinated by his inter circle, this is far different than voting a man out of office. Therefore, be it resolved, the US government's is different than organized crime... very different. Thank you