More from my archives, 1998 April 04:
If anarcho-capitalism depends on everybody’s goodwill, so what? If that’s a serious flaw then we’re in deep trouble, because DAILY LIFE IN ANY SYSTEM depends on everybody’s goodwill to the same degree. Every single person in several counties is betting that I (and the rest of our neighbors) won’t steal a car tonight and go burn their house down.
Where power is dispersed, no one person is much of a threat, and there are balances to every plausible threat. Where power is concentrated, the opposite is true.
And from the same thread, April 10:
We have government (in the broad sense which includes PPAs [private protection agencies], contracts, custom etc) to protect us against a TINY MINORITY of badguys. The state, which depends for its livelihood on a public perception of its necessity, puffs itself up by exaggerating what threats exist (Saddam is going to conquer the world if we don’t get him!) and inventing new ones (pornography on the internet! protect our children!).