the remaining differences are mostly about aesthetics and not about the use of violence to maintain hegemony
100% agreed. Ruling classes make laws to suit their interests, and law is opposed to morality and compassion in a lot of cases. US slavery was legal. South African and Israeli apartheid were/are legal. US torture camps like Guantanamo bay and Abu Ghraib are legal.
Even plea-bargaining in the US is a form of medieval-type coercion (confess your sins and we'll reduce your punishment), and is a pillar of their justice system.