[jlgreco]

To me, that viewpoint is about considering the ethics of governing itself. Something that has that much responsibility should have a proportionate amount of liability.

A monopoly on violence it a huge responsibility that today we balance with the liability that comes inherent in being a democracy. It seems today however that the extent to which the government uses it's monopoly requires a great deal more liability.

Since liability requires transparency, the realization that the government has a monopoly on violence should in turn reinforce importance of transparency in all things the government does. If the government feels the need to act independently without overview in some matter, that additional responsibility should come out of a "responsibility budget" that always remains in balance with a liability budget. If you want secret police and your responsibility budget is running low, fill it back up by adding some additional liability (perhaps steeper penalties for government officials that break the law) or free up some responsibility budget by reducing responsibility in other areas (perhaps by disarming other police).

Totalitarianism occurs when we give governments a responsibility budget completely decoupled from liability.

[qxcv]

That's an interesting line of reasoning, and not one that I had considered before. Thank you.