Since joining Steemit about a week ago. I couldn't help but notice all these posts about "anarcho-capitalism". Every post I would read, I'd think to myself, "is this person naive or plain ignorant?" Anarcho-capitalism is basically another word for saying, "I don't know how the world functions". So, I'm going to attempt to put this whole Anarcho-Capitalism thing to rest in hopes of finally moving on to a better cause.

A quick disclaimer:

I consider myself a Classical Libertarian. So, I'm definitely not arguing that the current system is good. I just want to end the wasted energy spent on "Anarcho-Capitalism". Also, I'm just going to call it A-C to make my life easier.

Don't Be Fooled

Reading these posts about A-C, I've realized most of the people that claim to be one are simply blind followers of it. The posts are all about "this is what it should be" and not "HOW this way will work". I'm assuming they read an article or blog post about it somewhere and now think they want to be one because it sounds cool. But, it really isn't cool, it's actually a terrible idea. A world fully privatized with absolutely no government? Doesn't sound like Utopia to me, sounds more like a Wall St. CEO's wet dream.

What a lot of these followers don't understand is that some government is actually a good thing. Imagine a world with no government. Those roads you drive on? Yea, you'll have to pay up for that every time you drive. Sewage system? Pay up in full price. Water connected, pay full price. You want to have electricity? Gonna have to pay full price since government isn't going to subsidize that anymore. Better hope your house doesn't catch on fire, you'll have to pay to have a fire department come out. Hopefully you'll live in a crime-less society, unless you pay for the police. Neighboring country want to invade? Good luck. Labor rights? Get out of town. Minimum wage? Laughable. University? Enjoy paying the private tuition. The list goes on and on. People don't realize nearly all of the essentials are subsidized by the government one way or another.

You're probably thinking, but hey I pay taxes now so I have to pay anyways. True, but corporations won't subsidize your essentials. You'll have to pay full price for everything buddy. I'm sure you've heard the stories of the corporation that raised prices on things just for profits. The most recent culprit of this is Mylan, raising the price of the epipen by 400%. Imagine if your electric bill went up 400%. To think privitization of everything is the answer to the worlds problems, you are wrong.

Meet Gurgaon

Gurgaon is a city about 20 miles south of New Dehli, India. It is officially the first city without a functioning government. Private business stepped in to fill the roll of government for the last 40 years. While its helped the population grow substantially and bring new business to the city, it has come with it's downsides. The only people who can afford to have electricity and a toilet that flushes are people with money. Healthcare is only available to people who can afford to pay for private care. Education is fully privatized, so only the wealthy can afford it. There is no sewage system in Gurgaon. So, wealthy residences have sewage collected in septic tanks and private companies haul it off. Guess where they dump the sewage? Thats right, the river. No government to regulate that. So what you have is half a city with golf courses, malls, tall buildings, clean streets. The other half, shacks, dirt roads, and garbage piled up on the side. This is the reality of a privatized society

Taking Advantage

Corporations naturally don't like big government, they don't like any government for that matter. I don't blame them, they get in the way of everything and whats the number one concern for business? Profits. So, you've heard the story before, Company A expenses go up, has to compete with Company B, Company A moves to third world country. With a society run by government, Company A will still have to abide by rules and regulation (given there are no loop wholes) in order to do business in the original country. This is a good thing. This ensures people aren't taken advantage of or mass amount of people lose their jobs. In an A-C run world, if Company A had to move countries for some reason, they wouldn't have to worry about labor rights or conducting responsible business practices.

Individuals that claim to be Anarcho-Capitalist do this too. They move from their home countries to a third world country in an attempt to pay 0% taxes. This is a perfect example of the well off taking advantage of the poor. Someone who can afford to move in order to pay no taxes, make money, use the countries utilities, and not pay a dime. I recently read a post about a Canadian guy that moved to the Dominican Republic so he doesn't have to pay any tax. If I was a resident, I'd want him out of my country. He conducts business abroad, not in the DR, so he doesn't employ anyone, doesn't contribute to their society and doesn't pay anything to use their utilities.

What I'm getting at is the whole concept of "Anarcho-Capitalism" is just another concept that benefits the rich. People might argue that it isn't the point of A-C, that A-C, is about protection of rights. Capitalism doesn't care about your rights, it cares about profits.

There Is a Better Way

I consider myself a Classical Libertarian. Meaning, I think government should run as our founding fathers intended, government should be in place to provide the essentials and maintain a fair market. Meaning government should provide the following:

Protection of citizens from wrongs committed against them by other citizens, which includes protection of private property, enforcement of contracts, and suppression of trade unions. This also includes the protection of individual rights from corporations.
Protection against foreign invaders
Building and maintaining public institutions, and
Public Works, that include a stable currency, standard weights and measures, and support of roads, ports, postal, and other communication services.

The rest is up to the free and fair markets. And for these services we have to pay our fair share of taxes. If government isn't run so poorly and we aren't a welfare state, these taxes shouldn't be much. Unfortunately, our current system has strayed far from our founding fathers intended and we've become a corrupt surveillance state that resembles more of a theocracy rather than democracy. I understand the appeal of Anarcho-Capitalism, but it's an ideology that simply won't work for 90% of the people on this earth.