The Ancaps speak about that wonderful capitalist world, where we buy our personal security from competing private security companies. (I guess people who have little monetary wealth deserve neither security nor justice). There seems to be a gap in their historical knowledge, because standing armies are something relatively recent. For millenia capitalist rulers of the many different flavors of capitalism, have relied on hiring private soldiers to fight their wars for them. For example, Columbus was a capitalist business man. The conquest of the Americas was done by private hired guns, on behalf of their respective clients. Likewise, privateers who sold their services to a competing capitalist family in England, harassed the Spanish as they were shipping their stolen loot back to Spain. Standing armies were expensive, as they depleted the gold and silver hoard of the capitalist, and were generally avoided, and guns were hired as and when needed. Standing (state) armies came into fashion once paper currencies had been invented, which supply of money - unlike silver and gold - could be increased on demand in order to pay the troops.
Posted on: Sun, 03 Aug 2014 21:09:14 +0000
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