[Avodah] Why is Milchemes Reshus allowed?

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

R"n Shoshana L. Boublil wrote:
> I believe that R' Akiva Miller has just managed to add 
> Milchemet Reshut to a whole list of dinim that we learn but 
> do not actually carry out -- like Ben Sorrer U'Moreh etc.
> Until WWII, economic reasons, and not piku'ach nefesh type 
> ones, were sufficient to start a war.   Just look through 
> the Torah and then general history and you'll see plenty of 
> occasions where kings led their people to war for economic 
> reasons that included the possibility of future needs.

This is precisely why I began this thread. Chazal already had moral qualms about executing the Ben Sorrer U'Moreh prior to his crimes, and attempted to explain and justify it. A few months back, we here on Avodah did the same about slavery. I'm simply raising the same questions about another thing which the Torah allows, and hoping for a reasonable explanation.

By slavery, there were comments showing that an eved is a respected human being with rights thereto pertaining, unlike the chattel which we often perceive a slave as being. I'm hoping for a similar exlanation which can show that a milchemes reshus is truly a non-objectionable concept, and not merely an improvement over what the goyim do.

Akiva Miller