What happened? When was the US a “perfect example of this”?
Yep. Greece is the only mixed economy in the world.
Most people in this thread have appealed to some sort of ‘human nature’ and think that such an appeal requires no justification whatsoever. Furthermore, I find little more annoying than someone claiming to be an anarchist but nevertheless will settle for ‘at least’ socialism, as if it is any better. Not to pick on the OP specifically, especially since he is now ironically banned, as MANY people hold that position. I say that as an idealistically anarcho-socialist (though that term is vary vague) myself. Pragmatically, I like to think of myself as an ‘anarchist without adjectives’. Watching anarcho-socialists/syndicalists bicker about their ideologies and claim that the other isn’t truly anarchist gets old fast. I’m far more concerned with foundational anarchist principles, like the non-initiation of force (and/or the Non-Aggression Principle [NAP]), than bickering about which economic system all ‘real’ anarchists must adhere to–as if I, as an anarchist, had any way to enforce something like that. If I’m truly an anarchist and someone wants to be a capitalist, then how the hell can I stop them from doing so without asserting some sort of power over them? I can’t–at least not until they start imposing themselves on others. Capitalism does not have to be imposing, though it can be and almost always is in today’s world. The one requirement I do think is necessary for any sort of anarchy is a free-market, and a free-market in the specific sense that philosopher Robert Nozick framed it: “Though the framework is libertarian and laissez-faire, individual communities within it need not be, and perhaps no community within it will choose to be so. Thus, the characteristics of the framework need not pervade the individual communities. In this laissez-faire system it could turn out that though they are permitted, there are no actually functioning ‘capitalist’ institutions; or that some communities have them and others don’t or some communities have some of them, or what you will.” While Robert Nozick wasn’t exactly an advocate for pure anarchy, he was an advocate for the “minimal state”. I just happen to think that the proper “minimal state” is one that doesn’t exist at all.
As for why I do not like anarcho-capitalism, that’s because I do not think any anarchist society would exist very long under a profit driven system which only really emphasizes individual advancement. All it takes is a few individuals, who ultimately only care about themselves, to group together, force their way to the top and keep others from getting there. That is actually kind of what we have today from the way I see it. Socialism, or state capitalism, just changes the make-up of the group that gets to be on top. I don’t think this is because of human nature, though, as that would mean the problem is entirely unsolvable, which I doubt. I certainly think it’s a very hard thing to fix, if not the hardest thing to ever fix, but I still think it’s fixable. Furthermore, if you want governments to ever work decently, then this problem needs to be fixed. The funny thing is, though, that if you fix the problem, you won’t need government. I don’t think human nature is the problem. I think the societal mindset that we’re all stuck in, myself included, is the problem.
As for why I identify as an anarchist and think that every form of government is bad, well that has a lot to do with public choice theory and regulatory capture. My overall objection to governments can be summed up rather well by this quote from Frank Herbert: “All governments suffer a recurring problem: power attracts pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it is magnetic to the corruptible.”