<And it's worth pointing out that for the Marshall Plan to work, we had to beat the living crap out of Germany and Japan first.

I agree. Germany had the crap beat out of it in the First World War, too, and then had the crap kicked out of it again in the post-war period as part of the "peacemaking" process. Hellooo, Adolf!

This is like the police officer in your analogy shooting the person pointing a gun at the officer, and then (after the perp is down) plugging him a few more times to make sure.

I bet you will agree that this use of force would be viewed as excessive.

The judicious use of force is justified, and can have beneficial effects when used with restraint. Now we get to define "judicious" and "with restraint". This is where the argument begins.

But at least we're still allowed to talk about it.

Regards--
Mary Anne