That's an interesting set of distinctions without a difference. > Some of those laws are meant to protect citizens. Laws are made for the just common good. Th

That's an interesting set of distinctions without a difference. > Some of those laws are meant to protect citizens. Laws are made for the just common good. They may not be ideal, but that's what they exist for. > Other laws are to protect property, Again, for the sake of the common good. The ability to hold private property is a prerequisite for other goods we need to flourish. > protect government interests What is a government interest? You seem to be alienating government and construing it as some foreign body with competing interests. No, government exists for the sake of the common good of the society it governs. Once governments begin to turn into cliques that serve, e.g., some oligarchy (quite common), esp. at the expense of the common good, we call this a tyranny. > and enforce codes of behavior. For the sake of the common good.