Monday, September 22, 2008

Anarchy/Anarchism

"Strange women lyin' in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony. You can't expect to wield supreme executive power just 'cause some watery tart threw a sword at you! If I went 'round saying I was an emperor just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!" - Dennis, peasant



This isn't exactly the Anarchy I'm going to talk about, but it's just funny as hell! Help! Help! I'm being repressed!

I've been presented recently with the idea of Anarcho-Capitalism. I immediately rejected the concept of anarchy, but that was a little premature. This is not the anarchy I was thinking about. I pictured something out of The Road Warrior. This is not the case at all.

This is libertarianism on steroids (if you thought that was even possible!). Not only are we limiting government to the minimum, we're actually eliminating it all together. The free market handles it all.

Taxes? Not needed. I suppose there would be pseudo-taxes to fund community things, but those would probably be best called contributions.

Police? Minimal. Communities voluntarily fund a police force, if needed. There can be more than one too.

Court system? Outside of criminal cases, this would be more of a private arbitration system. Criminal cases would still need to come before a community court with funding similar to the police force.

Roads? As free enterprise dictates, roads would be built. The builders would charge usage fees, based on market pricing.

Schools? Freed from all of the stuff that holds it down now, community schools would theoretically be inexpensive.

I'm not sure if I'm buying it, but it has some merit.

See the Wikipedia entry for more information: Anarcho-capitalism


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