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  1. Yep - even in the case where the women is sincerely interested in being your friend.
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  2. Well sure, "government" and "anarchy," in the sense you describe here, are both "anti-concepts" in the Randian sense of "two meanings, with the proper meaning serving to cover and to smuggle the improper one into people's minds." If I am right that sometimes by "government" Rand simply means (eg., in her official definition) "the state" (or "one monopoly agency") and sometimes "law and order" then she is packaged-dealing governance (or law and order itself) and monopoly and is therefore guilty of question begging. Which I think she is. Most of her criticisms of anarchy are accusations of lack of law and order. Which would make sense given the above packaged-dealing. So yes, I think it's important to unpack those. So if government means (1) an institution that holds the exclusive (monopoly) power to enforce certain rules of social conduct in a given geographical area (2) law and order in general and anarchy means (1) lack of an institution that holds the exclusive (monopoly) power to enforce certain rules of social conduct in a given geographical area (2) lack of law and order in general Then market anarchy supports government (2), but not government (1), and conversely supports anarchy (1), but not anarchy (2). But, at the same time I agree that Rand's official definition [government (1)] is the right (least confusing) one. And so, the least complicated thing to do is say government means "monopoly" and "anarchy" means "not having a government." That's all I mean by it when I use it. Interestingly enough, I think the conflation of anarchy (1) with anarchy (2) is an example of a bad (as opposed to good in the Hayekian sense) "spontaneous order" which instead of helping to sustain the free market, helps to sustain statism. (On the other hand, "anarcho-capitalism," "market anarchism," or even just "anarchism" or "libertarianism" is a lot simpler, and really, how are you going to get the kids to storm the barricades, so to speak, with "free-market-constitutionalist-polycentric legal order!!!!! Gooooo!") Also see this thread, Free markets against capitalism. And if you really wanna get interesting, see Cuzan Do We Ever Really Get Out of Anarchy? (Maybe all "government" is really "anarchy" and not the other way around??)
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  3. Relevant quote from Ayn Rand on how the two interact politically in America, from her Q&A:
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