Replying to Avatar Jeff Swann

Capitalism is just free trade with respect for indiviual rights. It is entirely possible for voluntary communes to exist within an honest capitalist system. Mutual aid societies, & cooperatives were far more common when the US govt was far smaller, suggesting that libertarian ideals (smaller or no govts) are very friendly to voluntary communes, mutual aid, & cooperatives.

The key is that individuals cannot be forced to contribute to a commune if they decide they'd rather not, which basically means the existence of the group must benefit all participants. If it doesn't then it is likely to naturally dissolve. Slavery is not acceptable in an honest capitalist system.

In contrast, capitalists are not free to exist or to trade within socialist & communist systems. One is freedom, while the others are different forms of slavery which can only exist by destroying freedom. If you desire some form of communism that doesn't involve enslaving anyone, then an honest capitalist system is no threat to you.

You can object to my definition of capitalism, but I haven't seen you provide any meaningful definition for the word. All of the anarcho capitalists & agorists I know believe that capitalism is free trade with respect for individual rights. There is no public school teaching that, so I fail to see how that is propaganda. It's just respect for private ownership (individual ownership) of capital (tools, money, etc).

I am trying to describe to you what I (and others like me) believe, & you seem unusually hung up on the words I am using rather than trying to actually understand me

I agree basically with what you're saying here. Its just the manipulation of the word "Anarchism" is what pisses me off.

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Maybe Anarchists (left) and Capitalists (right) can coexist successfully in a free and stateless society. Thank you for forcing me to think about this more.

The main problem among left anarchists seems to come when their ideas do not pan out the way they would like because most people do not enjoy being vaguely socially obligated to one another.

For example, a gift economy is just a less precise version of trade & the lack of precision is really only preferred by those who have less to offer & therfore something to gain from keeping things vague.

As an ancap I tend to be wary of anyone from the left because I have seen the mental gymnastics they will engage in to justify stealing (even from friends) when things aren't going their way.

Sure. You can label all of humankind as Machiavellian all you want. It's your right. My main issue with you (and all so called AnCaps) is the use of the word Anarchist.

The article below was provided by another so-called AnCap elsewhere in this thread. In the article Rothbard himself concluded that those who think like him should call themselves Nonarchist, not Anarchist.

https://mises.org/library/are-libertarians-anarchists

I think most people find ways to make themselves the good guy in their own mind while doing shitty things. That's not a Machivellian indifference to morality, it's an effort to twist or reframe reality in order to feel better about themselves because they do care about morality.

I have no plans to stop using the word anarchist or agorist & I suspect there are more ancaps using those words more effectively in the spread of ideas than people on the left at this point. The left stole "liberalism" and transformed it into something completely illiberal. At least "anarchy" in the ancap sense makes sense. I don't really care if people who don't think ownership should exist feel like I'm stealing their word 😏

How are you ruled or controled by anyone in a free market?

Anarchy means no rulers. Minarchy means there is a limited ruling class. Oligarchy means there is a ruling group. Monarchy means a single ruler.

There is no meaningful power hierarchy in any trade relationship. Both parties are free to stop dealing with the other at any time.

The only remaining hierarchy, social status, is a completely inevitable part of society. You can't make people equally confident, equally skilled, equally funny, equally happy, equally intelligent, equally fit, equally clean, etc. All of those things (and more) matter can play a role in social status. Anything you could equalize would only cause other things to matter more. There will always be different skill levels in all things so social status is absolutely going to always exist. The flattest possible social graph is going to be one where any person is free to find (or even create) whatever they are good at, so long as doing so isn't creating a power hierarchy by politically or economically burdening anyone else. In other words, anarcho capitalism.