Would Alan coercively take money from me? (and claim he was promoting "freedom") If he does it with enough of his friends (i.e. democracy) does that somehow make it ok? Don't pretent that being some sort of hard nosed "realist" gives you an out.

If there was a country in which the law allowed for private voluntarily funded armies I would much prefer to live there. I would not go round to your house, put a gun to you head and demand your money.

In the real world, there is no country where people are allowed to raise private armies. Now, you say that I am wrong to say that the government should use the power it has taken to promote freedom. You say, further, that it is morally equivalent to going round to your house and putting a gun to your head and demanding money from you to defend freedom. Your position is rubbish as I would prefer a situation in which armies were supported by voluntary subscription. Furthermore, in the current situation in which raising private armies is forbidden, your advocacy of non-interventionist foreign policy is entirely morally symmetrical with respect to use of tax monies. How so? Well, you and I both know that if I were to raise a private army to invade Iran, say, tax money would be used to stop me and put me in jail. So by advocating a non-interventionist foreign policy for Western governments you are recommending that my tax money should be used force me to back a policy that I find abhorrent: neutrality toward evil tyrants and the terrorists they sponsor.