I am amused when I hear supposedly capitalists saying that "government is the problem, not the solution." Because if it were not for government, capitalism wouldn't exist at all.
Capitalism does not work sans government because power grows from the barrel of a gun, and without government, he who has the most wealth can buy the most guns and thus rules. The notion of everybody in a society getting together and pooling their wealth so that society as a whole is the party with the most guns and can thus regulate the wealthiest to keep them from running roughshod over everybody else is the only way for freedom to exist as anything other than a theoretical concept. Otherwise what you have is feudalism -- a few filthy rich warlords who control everything necessary for life at the point of their guns, and the rest of us, well, serfs.
In short, without this pooling of resources by the majority -- what we call government -- there is no such thing as freedom unless you happen to be the feudal warlord, and no such thing as capitalism since the feudal warlord simply seizes at gunpoint anything he wishes to seize. This isn't Communist theory. This is what has been actually observed in failed states such as Somalia in this reality, as vs. the fictional reality where Libertopians live where unicorns are real and cotton candy grows on trees. Chairman Mao may have had a different situation altogether in mind when he said "power grows from the barrel of a gun", and was in general an asshole, but even an asshole can occasionally stumble across Truth-with-a-capital-T.
- Badtux the Power Penguin
Every Glibertarian is a warlord in their mind...
ReplyDeleteThe funny part is that the majority of these glibertarians are pasty white doughballs, not exactly warlord material by any standard. At which point the following dialogue ensues:
ReplyDeleteGlibertarian: "I have guns! God made man, Smith and Wesson made him equal!"
Me: "How many people have you killed with your guns?"
Glibertarian gapes in horror: "Excuse me?"
Me: "The gang banger I knew down in the Third Ward had capped at least three people with his .357, how many people have you killed?"
Glibertarian: "Uhm, none. I'm not a murderer."
Me: "Dude, you are so much going to be that gang banger's bitch if Libertopia ever happens. He's going to ride you all night and ride you all day till your bunghole is the size of a fucking basketball, yo."
Glibertarian, horrified by imagery, leaves to find someone who's not so mean to him who will tell him that yes, he will be the big man on campus when Libertopia happens.
- Badtux the Snarky Penguin
pasty assed punk rockers with their "anarchy rules" t-shirts dumb fucks don't even realize they would be the first in the wood chippers
ReplyDeleteTruth be told, they want a minimalist government. One that is just strong enough to keep the undesirables in their place and to enforce the will of the overlords.
ReplyDeleteThat's not a government, Terrant. That's a manorial administration.
ReplyDelete- Badtux the Snarky Penguin
Somalia was already a shitty place when it had government. Government left, now Somalia has become a better place.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.peterleeson.com/Better_Off_Stateless.pdf
In what universe do you live, Voluntaryism? Because it ain't this one. I've read your glibertarian talk about Somalia as a paradise now compared to the past, but then I read the news where starving and desperate Somalis are jumping into wooden scows and firing on fucking *frigates* trying to get food or just a free trip to visit with some virgins in the afterlife, and there ain't no fucking way that's a better situation than back when they had a government, when they could at least *fish* for a living. But without a government to defend their coastline, every factory fishing boat from every other nation on the planet has come in and scooped up every living thing in the sea, leaving them to *starve*.
ReplyDeleteAin't no fucking way starving to death due to lack of a government capable of defending the nation is a better life than fishing for a living. No fucking way. You're full of fucking shit if you're gonna say it is. Maybe in some alternative universe where unicorns are real and cotton candy grows on trees, but not *this* one, where power grows from the barrel of a gun... and if you don't have the most guns because you unilaterally disarmed by disbanding your government, you're *fucked*.
- Badtux the Reality-based Penguin