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Ancaps are just fascists, full stop.



I had a lovely conversation about cryptoassets with someone who held ancap views (we didn't exchange labels but I'd wager they'd embrace this one) earlier today. You can't tell if someone is a fascist based on their ideological label (outside a few obvious exceptions like, "I'm a Nazi," sure), because as a rule fascists don't want to be identified.


That's fair, but also ancaps are universally fascists. Anarchocapitalism gets rid of the state, safety nets, and police in favor of private security forces employed by whomever is wealthiest. If you want Elon Musk operating the police, then by all means.

But that sure sounds like a recipe for CEOs to become autocrats.


I think that's just like, having problematic ideas. There's definitely some ancap/libertarian thinkers that give me the creeps. But most of the ancap/libertarians I've spoken to are against coercion and authoritarianism.

Let's not paint with a broad brush, it's unfair to the people we're debating with (most of whom aren't fascists) and it just makes us look like fools who see fascists behind every idea we don't like. Which makes it difficult to argue that specific people really are fascists when we need it.


Except if you believe in unfettered capitalism with zero government oversight, there's no other possible outcome than "the rich run the police".


You'll get no argument from me on that point. But you would get an argument from an ancap, and then you could have a discussion. A lot of people want to imagine a better world but can't imagine a world without capitalism. I think you'll find that lots of them have simply never tried, because they've never seen anyone else do it. They might not be as entrenched as you're thinking.




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