4 ms·

This article reads to me like a long list of problems caused by government and blamed on capitalism. I'm biased though - I'm an anarcho-capitalist, and I've sp

This article reads to me like a long list of problems caused by government and blamed on capitalism. I'm biased though - I'm an anarcho-capitalist, and I've spent orders of magnitude more time considering these sorts of questions than the vast majority of people who are not so politically involved.

smt88 9y ago
Do you think that everyone who disagrees with you has spent less time considering these sorts of questions than you have? As a counterpoint, I'd suggest the thousands of political-science, economic, and philosophy scholars who all disagree with you (as do the vast majority of humans who have ever lived and appreciate the social contract). You may be correct and everyone else may be wrong, but I don't think it's accurate to dismiss other people as not having considered things as much as you have.
- pzone 9y ago
  Overall you make a good point. In the context of this article, I tend to think the OP comment has thought about it harder than the author. These articles like "Down with capitalism, didn't you hear 51% of millennials don't like it! And what about that fire in london?" are invariably written by radical left-wing disciplines where the authors have no evidence of deep understanding of the issues - here anthropology.
  - smt88 9y ago
    This article is not scholarly or deep. I'm not sure we could (or should) expect more, given its medium. It's a pop-politics article, so I found the scope to be appropriate. I also felt the implied intent was to inspire people to read deeper dives written elsewhere. As for "radical left-wing," I don't disagree with the terminology. But I do disagree with the implication that the radical left-wing is a niche in the US. I'd say that it's quite mainstream, which you yourself support by suggesting that it's popular among Millenials (almost half the US population). The author of the article also suggests that radical left-wing ideas are now mainstream, and I'd propose that that's the whole point. These ideas have become mainstream, so let's start calling them what they are: socialist ideas.
- LyndsySimon 9y ago
  > Do you think that everyone who disagrees with you has spent less time considering these sorts of questions than you have? Of course not, that's why I qualified that statement; to be clear that I was speaking about the general public, not those who hold a contrary worldview that merely disagree with me. > You may be correct and everyone else may be wrong I actually don't think it's a matter of "correct" or "incorrect" so much as one of values. I value individual liberty over all else, while others are more utilitarian in their approach. > but I don't think it's accurate to dismiss other people as not having considered things as much as you have. Of course not - that's why I enjoy talking about political and economics. One or both of the people involved are likely to learn something in the process :)
antisthenes 9y ago
Sorry, but sounds like something straight out of /r/iamverysmart Do you have any historic evidence that countries with smaller governments are wealthier & more efficient than countries where government spending is a large proportion of the GDP? (hint: it's all the western developed democracies)
- LyndsySimon 9y ago
  > Sorry, but sounds like something straight out of /r/iamverysmart Yeah, I was afraid it would come off that way and tried to soften it by qualifying my last statement. Apparently, it didn't work. > Do you have any historic evidence that countries with smaller governments are wealthier & more efficient than countries where government spending is a large proportion of the GDP? I didn't make that assertion. All I was trying to do is say that from my perspective most of the points raised in the article appear to be caused by government involvement, not by capitalism.

smt88 9y ago

Do you think that everyone who disagrees with you has spent less time considering these sorts of questions than you have? As a counterpoint, I'd suggest the thousands of political-science, economic, and philosophy scholars who all disagree with you (as do the vast majority of humans who have ever lived and appreciate the social contract). You may be correct and everyone else may be wrong, but I don't think it's accurate to dismiss other people as not having considered things as much as you have.

pzone 9y ago
Overall you make a good point. In the context of this article, I tend to think the OP comment has thought about it harder than the author. These articles like "Down with capitalism, didn't you hear 51% of millennials don't like it! And what about that fire in london?" are invariably written by radical left-wing disciplines where the authors have no evidence of deep understanding of the issues - here anthropology.
- smt88 9y ago
  This article is not scholarly or deep. I'm not sure we could (or should) expect more, given its medium. It's a pop-politics article, so I found the scope to be appropriate. I also felt the implied intent was to inspire people to read deeper dives written elsewhere. As for "radical left-wing," I don't disagree with the terminology. But I do disagree with the implication that the radical left-wing is a niche in the US. I'd say that it's quite mainstream, which you yourself support by suggesting that it's popular among Millenials (almost half the US population). The author of the article also suggests that radical left-wing ideas are now mainstream, and I'd propose that that's the whole point. These ideas have become mainstream, so let's start calling them what they are: socialist ideas.
LyndsySimon 9y ago
> Do you think that everyone who disagrees with you has spent less time considering these sorts of questions than you have? Of course not, that's why I qualified that statement; to be clear that I was speaking about the general public, not those who hold a contrary worldview that merely disagree with me. > You may be correct and everyone else may be wrong I actually don't think it's a matter of "correct" or "incorrect" so much as one of values. I value individual liberty over all else, while others are more utilitarian in their approach. > but I don't think it's accurate to dismiss other people as not having considered things as much as you have. Of course not - that's why I enjoy talking about political and economics. One or both of the people involved are likely to learn something in the process :)

antisthenes 9y ago

Sorry, but sounds like something straight out of /r/iamverysmart Do you have any historic evidence that countries with smaller governments are wealthier & more efficient than countries where government spending is a large proportion of the GDP? (hint: it's all the western developed democracies)

LyndsySimon 9y ago
> Sorry, but sounds like something straight out of /r/iamverysmart Yeah, I was afraid it would come off that way and tried to soften it by qualifying my last statement. Apparently, it didn't work. > Do you have any historic evidence that countries with smaller governments are wealthier & more efficient than countries where government spending is a large proportion of the GDP? I didn't make that assertion. All I was trying to do is say that from my perspective most of the points raised in the article appear to be caused by government involvement, not by capitalism.