#QT (1/3) Love this part of @pluralistic's newest post. Property rights, especially as they're practiced and enforced in the US, are in tension with “free markets.” This is why the growth of capitalism has increased the power of “private governments” (corporations) that weaponize the law to deprive us of ownership or enshittify necessities like healthcare.
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(2/3) When I say “growth of capitalism” I specifically mean capitalism as distinct from, but deeply connected to, markets.
Capitalism is a set of “protocols” designed to codify ownership of property to facilitate capital accumulation. This results in a system of governance that favors property owners who make rules, not based on laws of economics or some idealized view of natural property, but their own interests. American slavery and British enclosure illustrate this.
(3/3) Not only do the protocols of capitalism result in rules written and influenced by capital holders, but the rules are so gameable they create easily exploitable vulnerabilities.
The favored position of capital and the breaking of capitalist rules are fundamental to how capitalist systems evolve. Getting the broader public to recognize that, I think, is the first step towards fighting for a fairer world.
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