It's not frivolous thinking. I agree with your statement that "you have a value of 1". That's our collective defense mechanism. But as a consequence, we all live with the knowledge that _if we step out of line_, then great powers can be used against us.

Some of those behaviors are generally for the good of society (e.g. 'murder is bad'). But others, like civil forfeiture, are much much more questionable.