Why couldn’t they just not accept it because it wouldn’t be in their interest to get gang raped? Why would they need to come up with a sort of “natural law” against it?
Walter Block argues against discarding the word capitalism.
I use free-market. I doubt it really matters, though. Very, very few who attack ‘capitalism’ don’t also hate, for different reasons, free markets.
But what are the pundits referring when they use it all the time?
Communists basically define the word “capitalism” as: anything bad that happens. If someone stubbed a toe during Mao’s Great Leap Forward (Backward) capitalist corruption would be blamed.
I’m on the forums at debate.org and people do not know what the hell an anarchist is. Here are their conceptions
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Anarchism means opposition to authority
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Anarchism means no laws
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Anarchism means no property
And here is what you have to educate them on
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Libertarian definition of aggression/coercion and HOMESTEADING, the biggest topic of them all.
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Definition of a state depending on that definition
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Definition of anarchy depending on that definition
It is very very inefficient to identify as an anarchist. Identifying as an anarcho capitalist gets lefties on your ass, but it at least it establishes that you want private property. I think i will use it from now on because I have never heard a better alternative.
we’re still going on about this crap?
gonna toot my own horn here: http://mises.org/daily/4222
I find the attempt to popularize phrases like “laissez-faire” or “market anarchism” so as to avoid the negative connotations of “capitalism” more than a little silly.
For those of us who are anarchocapitalists, the phrases are interchangeable; clarity is not an issue. I doubt there has ever been any confusion when one Mises Institute Senior Scholar says “capitalism” and another says “laissez-faire.” The only reason I can find as to why one would attempt to change the vocabulary of our message would be to appeal to people who do not share our economic views. I cannot see this little ploy as anything but a waste of time.
The first reason I believe this to be foolish is that if anyone is under the impression that “laissez-faire” or “market anarchism” will be an easier pill for the general public to swallow, they need to do a bit of thinking.
“Laissez-faire” will make the average Soccer-Mom-Mandi think of Dickensian orphans having to beg for pennies on a muddy street (in the rain) because they lost one or more limbs in a coal mining accident and their mustached robber-baron employer threw them out into the wilderness because of their reduced productivity. She will be overcome with a fear for the safety of not only her tow-headed children, but of all tow-headed children in the Good Ol’ USA. As fearing for children makes her feel unpleasant, and as the phrase “laissez-faire” was used disparagingly by both her matronly 11th grade social studies teacher who inspired her and her EN 211 American Lit. professor who she had a crush on, she will not like it.
I also do not believe that “market anarchism” will accurately communicate the message of liberty and win the hearts and minds of the masses. If we were to take Teamster Union Randy the Welder from Local 102 and do a bit of word association, I would imagine we would end up with something like this: “Market”; “Wall Street.” “Market”; “Exploitation.” “Anarchism”; “Chaos.” “Anarchism”; “Arson.” “Market”; “Madoff.” “Anarchism”; “Africa.” “Market Anarchy”; “Workers of the World Unite.” To the average American whose reason is constructed by either The Daily Show, pop music, or whatever blockbuster is playing at the cinema, the phrase “market anarchy” would lead one to think of a Hollywood-envisioned dystopian future in which a large pharmaceutical company controls every aspect of our lives so that a few privileged crooks at the top can live in ivory towers. I cannot see people flocking to this phrase.
If you want to proselytize to the masses, “capitalism” is your best bet. It’s not threatening to most people as both Republicans and Democrats generally speak of it as a kind of good thing. It is what made “us” great and all that blather. The fact that it is commonly used and commonly misused is its best quality. Every time someone incorrectly equates capitalism to corporatism, mercantilism, bailouts, price fixing, subsidies, natural monopolies, central banking, etc. we are given an excellent opportunity to say "Well, that’s not exactly what capitalism is … " We have the perfect icebreaker which enables us to wax poetic about how you agree that these things are unjust but are really examples of interventionist policies and state reallocation of resources not intrinsic qualities of capitalism. And then we can smoothly transition the conversation into free market solutions and extol the virtues of economic liberty.
But now to the second reason I think this is pointless: the ideas of absolute liberty will never, ever, ever be popular to the masses. The values that have led us to our vision of rights, justice, and liberty are less popular than the values that lead others elsewhere. There is something within many people that finds a calming satisfaction in dependence. Depending upon the state does offer a lot of stability to many people who would rather not be bothered with trying to steer a course through the “tumultuous sea of liberty.” Trying to put a pretty bow on our ideas by abjuring all words with negative connotations will not help promote liberty. If anything, we should focus on bracing the remnant, as it were. The people who will find the message of liberty appealing will do so because of the philosophy, not because of the label, indeed, in spite of the label.
I have a hunch that making a big ado about not supporting “capitalism” because the word is misused and preferring to support whatever alternative word its critics agree upon will further alienate proponents of economic liberty, on the part of both like-minded individuals and potential converts. People who do this will just look pedantic, as if they are trimming their sails to be agreeable. “Um … yeah, I like supported Capitalism before it was cool … then everyone else started digging it. But they didn’t really get it, ya know? So now I’m into Anti-Capitalist-Market-Anarchy. It’s really rare, I doubt you’ve heard of it.”