The Crypto Winter

[Petro]

On Thursday, November 22, 2001, at 12:36 PM, Mark Henderson wrote:

> On Wed, Nov 21, 2001 at 08:46:18PM -0800, Petro wrote:
>> 	Not necessarily. It is argued both that Libertarians are
>> chicken-shit anarchists (afraid to take the last step)  or that
>> Anarchists are just extreme Libertarians.
>
> As far as I can tell most libertarians are in favour of an
> unfettered free market. People who label themselves as anarchists
> tend to be anti-capitalist.

	Anarchists who claim to be anti-capitalists are either (a) not 
anarchists, or (b) mis-understand what capitalism is.

	Capitalism is simply letting each and every individual, or group of 
individuals  place their economic resources where they feel they will 
get the best return (that's the one sentence explanation of my 
understanding).

	Of course, many "anarchists" and "leftists" would argue with this  
definition, as is proper. One needs to agree on terms before one can 
debate the merits of the systems those terms represent. It doesn't help 
the Capitalist case any that many of it's leading proponents are all for 
government intervention.

	Mr. May tends to label himself an anarchist, and I don't think he's 
got much against (philosophical) Capitalism. I, on my more moderate 
days, label myself an anarchist(1). On my bad days, it's more like 
nihilism.

	Anarchy is individuals, or groups of individuals living their lives 
according to what they believe is best for them, without external 
coercion.

	Anyone who seeks to coerce someone into allocating their resources 
a certain way (convincing isn't coercion, it's salesmanship), or to 
prevent that allocation does not believe in Anarchy, they're just 
leftist who couldn't get to be the leader of their local red-cell.


(1) I'm not a believer in Anarchy because I believe that people will 
behave better without government than with, I'm a believer in Anarchy 
because then they can't hide behind lawyers and badges when they fuck 
someone. They can still hide behind guns, but that just makes their 
actions more honest.  I don't believe in anarchy because I trust people. 
I believe in anarchy because I don't trust them.
--
"Remember, half-measures can be very effective if all you deal with are
half-wits."--Chris Klein