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Small-Scale Question Sunday for July 28, 2024

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Yes, centrally planned militaries have outcompeted all other types of military organisation. The market can outcompete the state on many things but the monopoly on violence and it's successful preservation and expansion are, at least for now, domains in which state organisation dominates. Volunteer militias and private military companies exist and have had victories against state-led armies in modern times but this hasn't lead to any long-term changes in the meta (even when volunteer militias win they usually just go on to establish a traditional military).

If you accept this view then those left-wing individuals have just gotten you to concede the minarchist position. State-controlled industry, dissolution of property rights etc are hills the socialists still have to climb and the historical record is very against them here.