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While I agree with the sentiment of your post, you seem to be conflating capitalism with what countries you believe to be capitalist implement. Most countries

While I agree with the sentiment of your post, you seem to be conflating capitalism with what countries you believe to be capitalist implement. Most countries I can think of implement a mix of capitalism and socialism. Some features are capitalism, some are features of socialism. Coercion and taxation are not capitalism, taxation is just theft operated by the state. I consider the "no true scotsman" argument for communism to be valid: we never arrived to real communism and that's because it's impossible. Communism can be achieved only if all the individuals of society are perfect; without that perfection the best you can achieve is a socialist dictatorship. On the opposite (anarcho-capitalist) side, I think we should try to get rid of all our society socialist features and see if the free market can support us entirely. In my opinion, capitalism is not bad, we just don't have enough.

simonh 6y ago
I mostly agree with you, every country employs some mix of different economic systems. I agree communism is impossible, that's why I think no true scotsman is an invalid criticism. My post was largely an attempt to explain why I think it's impossible and also actually undesirable. That's all just semantics though, I think we agree on the actual issue. I disagree with your last paragraph. I oppose socialism as an ideology, as it is pursued by dyed in the wool socialists, but don't necessarily oppose all policies implemented in the name of socialism. I oppose ideologies generally, politically I support policies that have turned out to work, whatever the reasons might be. For example I do believe in the power of free markets and that capitalism is essentially based on individual liberty. However for example here in the UK we have a very effective and beloved national health service. It's not perfect and might not be the system I would choose from scratch, with unlimited power to make it as I wished, but it works and I would oppose any attempts to radically reform it. There's just too much that's good about it that we could break. Maggie, one of my political heroes, tried to reform it along market lines in the 80s and it was disastrous. But then there are historical reasons why Britain has some of it's economic and political settlements. Social consensus is important and what works for us might not work for others with different traditions, institutions and expectations.
rorykoehler 6y ago
Anarcho-capitalism will fail for the same reasons you stated communism will fail. 5% of people have psychopathic personality traits. For society that is like someone shitting in the bath water. We’ll end up looking like a narco-state.

simonh 6y ago

I mostly agree with you, every country employs some mix of different economic systems. I agree communism is impossible, that's why I think no true scotsman is an invalid criticism. My post was largely an attempt to explain why I think it's impossible and also actually undesirable. That's all just semantics though, I think we agree on the actual issue. I disagree with your last paragraph. I oppose socialism as an ideology, as it is pursued by dyed in the wool socialists, but don't necessarily oppose all policies implemented in the name of socialism. I oppose ideologies generally, politically I support policies that have turned out to work, whatever the reasons might be. For example I do believe in the power of free markets and that capitalism is essentially based on individual liberty. However for example here in the UK we have a very effective and beloved national health service. It's not perfect and might not be the system I would choose from scratch, with unlimited power to make it as I wished, but it works and I would oppose any attempts to radically reform it. There's just too much that's good about it that we could break. Maggie, one of my political heroes, tried to reform it along market lines in the 80s and it was disastrous. But then there are historical reasons why Britain has some of it's economic and political settlements. Social consensus is important and what works for us might not work for others with different traditions, institutions and expectations.

rorykoehler 6y ago

Anarcho-capitalism will fail for the same reasons you stated communism will fail. 5% of people have psychopathic personality traits. For society that is like someone shitting in the bath water. We’ll end up looking like a narco-state.