Is Anarcho-Capitalism the way forward? I think not.

     Anyone who has dipped their toes into Libertarianism has noticed there is a lot of infighting. When I say a lot, I mean it's our favorite past time. Libertarianism itself is a simply idea. You can make better decisions for yourself than the government can. I think we can all agree on that simple principle. The ideas that make that possible are property rights and the NAP, which I have touched on before here.

     Property rights seem self explanatory. The link to the definition of private property seems to be pretty clear. Where this break down comes is in the digital marketplace. The idea that goods can in fact be digital. In the Anarcho-Capitalist(AnCap) idea of private property your digital goods are not actual property. They can be taken, used, and resold without regard to the creator or developer. I find this idea dated. Rothbard created this idea(one I think is solid for its time) without any understanding of what the future would bring in terms of digital goods and services. Now as any AnCap will tell you if you create a video game, for example and distribute it, anyone has a right to take that exact same video game, put their name on it, and sell it for less. They did not incur the development cost, they did not need the talent required to make said game, but they are within their rights to take it and cut you out of the profit that you could earn due to your ability to develop a digital product that they could not.

     I find this to be antithetical to free-market ideals which are an incentive based way of distributing good ideas and products. If, in the AnCap society, there is no way to protect the incentive, then there is no reason to create the product. The idea that people would simply make these digital products without regard to personal gain is something out of the Marx handbook. I would hope that Rothbard, were he alive today, would be able to understand this conundrum created by the new gig-economy and digital marketplace. 

     This is one of many reasons why I can not take on the mantel of AnCap, even though I very much sympathize with the idea. The state is brutal and what we have now is so far removed from what our founders envisioned, I can see why going full Anarchist seems like the only viable option. The constitution seems to be nothing more than a piece of paper, and it sure hasn't managed to hold the government in check. Is the answer no government? Would the pharmaceutical companies and every other IP based product survive in AnCapistan? I am not so sure. I am looking forward to a good faith critique of my idea here, because so far no one has offered me any explanation except this. This idea would lead to zero new creation and would dis-incentivize the pushing of boundaries. If you knew any new creation you made would simply be taken, repackaged, and put back on the market, you would have zero reason to create this new product. No new cures, no new media, no new boundaries.