Difference between revisions of "Anarcho-Capitalism"

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Anarcho-capitalism (a form of free-market anarchism),^[1] is an individualist anarchist^[2] political philosophy that advocates the elimination of the state and the elevation of the sovereign individual in a free market. In an anarcho-capitalist society, law enforcement, courts, and all other security services are provided by voluntarily-funded competitors such as private defense agencies rather than through compulsory taxation, and money is privately produced in an open market. Because personal and economic activities are regulated by the natural laws of the market through private law rather than through politics, victimless crimes and crimes against the state would be rendered moot.

Anarcho-capitalists argue for a society based in voluntary trade of private property (including money, consumer goods, land, and capital goods) and services in order to maximize individual liberty and prosperity, but also recognize charity and communal arrangements as part of the same voluntary ethic.^[3] Though anarcho-capitalists are known for asserting a right to private (individualized or joint non-public) property, some propose that non-state public/community property can also exist in an anarcho-capitalist society.^[4] For them, what is important is that it is acquired and transferred without help or hindrance from the compulsory state. Anarcho-capitalist libertarians believe that the only just, and/or most economically-beneficial, way to acquire property is through voluntary trade, gift, or labor-based original appropriation, rather than through aggression or fraud.^[5]

Anarcho-capitalists see free-market capitalism as the basis for a free and prosperous society. Murray Rothbard said that the difference between free-market capitalism and "state capitalism" is the difference between "peaceful, voluntary exchange" and a collusive partnership between business and government that uses coercion to subvert the free market.^[6] "Capitalism," as anarcho-capitalists employ the term, is not to be confused with state monopoly capitalism, crony capitalism, corporatism, or contemporary mixed economies, wherein natural market incentives and disincentives are skewed by state intervention.^[7] So they reject the state, based on the belief that states are aggressive entities which steal property (through taxation and expropriation), initiate aggression, are a compulsory monopoly on the use of defensive and/or punitive force, use their coercive powers to benefit some businesses and individuals at the expense of others, create monopolies, restrict trade, and restrict personal freedoms via drug laws, compulsory education, conscription, laws on food and morality, and the like. The embrace of unfettered capitalism leads to considerable tension between anarcho-capitalists and many social anarchists who tend to distrust the market, and believe that free-market capitalism is inherently authoritarian.

External links

• Ludwig von Mises Institute is a research and educational center of classical liberalism; including anarcho-capitalism, libertarian political theory, and the Austrian School of economics.
• anti-state.com, the "online center for market anarchism," has one of the more active forums and an archive of theoretical and practical articles from notable anarcho-capitalists
• Strike The Root is an anarcho-capitalist website featuring essays, news, and a forum.
• Anarcho-capitalist FAQ.
• Bryan Caplan's "Anarchism Theory FAQ" is written from the perspective of an anarcho-capitalist.
• LewRockwell.com is a site hosting libertarian, minarchist, as well as anarcho-capitalist articles, run by Lew Rockwell with the slogan "anti-state, anti-war, pro-market."
• The Molinari Institute operated by Roderick Long, offers online resources for those interested in exploring the ideas of market anarchism
• Response To The Anarchist FAQ
• Contra Sabatini: Bogus Critique

Criticism of Anarcho-capitalism

• Between Anarchism and Libertarianism: Defining a New Movement by Jeff Draughn
• Libertarianism: Bogus Anarchy - by Peter Sabatini
• The New Right and Anarcho-capitalism, by Peter Marshall
• Anarchism and Capitalism, by Andrew Flood
• Anarchism and "Anarcho"-capitalism
• Replies to Some Errors and Distortions in Bryan Caplan's "Anarchist Theory FAQ" version 5.2