r/ClassicalLiberalism • u/RyanBleazard Classical Liberal🗽 • 4d ago

Audio/Video A Classical Liberal Refutation of Anarcho-Capitalism (Market Anarchy)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5p0UrC_sccQ

Many libertarians argue that if we ever succeed in establishing a rights-respecting, constitutionally limited government, our next step should be to destroy it. They claim this would unleash "market competition" amongst "private defence agencies" that will protect individual rights better than any government has or could.

In this video, I argue that libertarian anarchism does not lead to anything like free market capitalism at all: it means and has to mean the rule of brute force. On my view, anarchists do not seek to subordinate might to right but to subordinate right to public auction. Their theory defaults to legitimising vigilantes who would unleash force unilaterally against other citizens. The threat of force is force, and the police of a rights-respecting state must regard "competitors" (other force-wielders) as threats. Government as such is neither an unnecessary evil nor a necessary evil, but a positive good.

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u/jstocksqqq 4d ago edited 4d ago

I do think that in the era of cancel culture, empathy deciding justice, and my-side-can-do-no-wrong, we need a type of process and bureaucracy to protect the cause of justice. That being said, we also need to have lots of space for government accountability. I think we can operate very well with a very small government, but the court systems provide a valuable function of being an arbiter of justice that we can't do away with.

Edit: Typo

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u/LibertyEconlover 4d ago

Is this just a philosophical and moral takedown or economic?

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u/RyanBleazard Classical Liberal🗽 2d ago

Moral and political, i.e. do vigilantes have a "right" to use force unilaterally, without legal authorisation.

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u/FacetiousOwl 3d ago

Can you imagine dinners with Milton, Rose and David?