…just public property that the public hasn’t taken yet.

I’ve been following, with great interest, the debates between Kevin Baker and his anarcho-capitalist critics. In general, I’ve agreed with Kevin, but his opponents raise a few good points.

As a thought exercise, I began trying to envision the way an anarchist society might provide the same protections as other societies, and most of my concepts came down to an “opt-in” pseudo-government that MOST people would end up joining simply for the infrastructure and security benefits.

The one thing that caused me the most problems was the ownership of property, real estate in particular. One of the primary reasons that I felt there needed to be a standard recognized “government” was that it could serve as a repository for “official” documents saying who owned what piece of real estate.

Now, though, the government is a threat to the private ownership of real estate, not a protector of our property rights. Kevin says this probably isn’t the straw that broke the camel’s back, but that it ought to be. As far as I’m concerned, it is the final straw. If Bill Von Winkle, who said he’s not leaving his home, needs someone to lie in front of the bulldozers with him, I’m willing to consider going.