> The key here is that people believe that only government can do the things that they are thankful for.
Believing that government is essential for some desirable things does not mean loving government (or even having any emotion at all about government as such), any more than believign that government is essential for some undesirable things (a belief shared by many of the same people) means hating government.
> It would be a fallacy of composition if I said "people like social welfare programs, therefore people like governments since governments provide social welfare programs." But it's no longer a fallacy of composition if I assume that only governments can possible provide social welfare programs.
Yes, it is still exactly the fallacy of composition, the same way that "People hate aggressive wars, and people believe only governments can launch aggressive wars, so people hate government" is the fallacy of composition.
People can like or dislike things for which they see government as necessary without liking or disliking government. It is exactly the fallacy of composition to conflate like or dislike of particular actions of government with like or dislike of government, regardless of whether or not government is essential those actions.
I find your analysis of the fallacy of composition to be ridiculous. Again, I am not saying "people love infrastructure, therefore people love governments." I am saying "people love governments because they believe governments are the only way to have infrastructure." This isn't a fallacy, it's a true description of what many people actually believe and would openly admit to believing.
> the same way that "People hate aggressive wars, and people believe only governments can launch aggressive wars, so people hate government" is the fallacy of composition.
That's not a fallacy either. It just happens to be false, namely because most people don't hate aggressive wars.
Believing that government is essential for some desirable things does not mean loving government (or even having any emotion at all about government as such), any more than believign that government is essential for some undesirable things (a belief shared by many of the same people) means hating government.
> It would be a fallacy of composition if I said "people like social welfare programs, therefore people like governments since governments provide social welfare programs." But it's no longer a fallacy of composition if I assume that only governments can possible provide social welfare programs.
Yes, it is still exactly the fallacy of composition, the same way that "People hate aggressive wars, and people believe only governments can launch aggressive wars, so people hate government" is the fallacy of composition.
People can like or dislike things for which they see government as necessary without liking or disliking government. It is exactly the fallacy of composition to conflate like or dislike of particular actions of government with like or dislike of government, regardless of whether or not government is essential those actions.