Anarcho-capitalism

This weekend was a nutty one for me — almost no time to write, very little time to read, taxes due on Monday, a funeral to attend and the hectic aspects of Easter (which shouldn’t be the case).

I left my laptop charger at home, so I only had my PDA to catch up on my usual suspects. Anarcho-capitalism is becoming a popular word, it seems, considering that 2 years ago one didn’t really find it often on even Google’s index. I liken the term to my use of “libertarian” just 8 years ago — it was a word that most people didn’t seem familiar with, but Google now indexes millions of sites using the word that I was often called a troll for using. Since I gave up my hope for Libertarianism (freedom with statism don’t mix), I’ve changed my “troll” tune to using anarcho-capitalism as often as I can when it is on-topic, even in real life discussions with friends, family and others.

Hayword’s Repertory and Review has a really short article on the great Rothbard. Hayword is not anarcho-capitalist (yet), but he offers a good quick look at Rothbard. This guy wrote always, discussed always, and really believed that “Libertarianism” would occur eventually. I agree with the late Rothbard, but he didn’t live to see the Internet and see how anarcho-capitalist the average web shopper and browser is without realizing it.

Blatch has an interesting article about Stephenson’s book Snow Crash, and he uses the term anarcho-capitalist to describe the society in the book. I haven’t read it yet, but it is now on my list of books to acquire. I’m a fan of the cyberpunk genre, and before I had even tried to live an anarcap lifestyle, I held much of the political views in these books close to my heart. I think many cyberpunks online would also see the “truth” in anarcho-capitalism, and it is good to see books predicting such a future, even if the books show it to be wrong or evil. Nedlum also comments on the book and uses the term anarcho-capitalism.

I haven’t followed up on the anarcho-capitalist counter-protest regarding V for Vendetta, but I’m trying to find some news clips on it. If you’ve read anything about it, drop me an e-mail. I am against protesting because I believe your time could be better spent working those hours and donating the money to the Mises Institute or a freedom media network, but that’s just my opinion.

It is with great joy that I see the term anarcho-capitalism used more and more often, even if just in debate or hatred. “We” lost the term liberal decades ago, and the term libertarian is now lost to those who just want civil libertarianism rather than societal libertarianism. Anarcho-capitalism is not likely to be taken by a statist political movement, so I am hoping that I can permanently adopt the title. If not, what could the next free-living title be?

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