I get a lot of sideways glances for many of my views. But nothing gets the "normies" more confused than when I say I want to see the entire system of intellectual property burned to the ground.

"But you're all about property!" they sputter.

Exactly. I'm all about real property. And intellectual property is its mortal enemy. It is the single most destructive, anti-capitalist, pro-monopoly legal framework poisoning our society, and it's time people saw it for the scam that it is.

Let's get one thing straight. The only reason property rights exist is to solve a very simple problem: scarcity. You and I can't both use my hammer at the same time. We can't both eat the same sandwich. My use of a scarce, physical object excludes your use. Property rights are the rules that let us navigate this physical reality without cracking each other's skulls open.

You know what isn't scarce? An idea.

If I design a new engine, you can copy that design without me losing it. In fact, you might even come up with that same engine design independently. And if I write a song, you can sing that song and my vocal cords won't vanish. The world of ideas is one of infinite abundance. There is no natural conflict to solve.

So what is intellectual property? It's the government stepping in to create artificial scarcity where none exists. It is a state-granted monopoly.

A patent isn't a right to your invention. It's a government-enforced right to stop other people from using their own property — their tools, their factories, their raw materials — to create something similar. Copyright isn't a right to your story. It, too, is a government-enforced right to stop other people from using their own property — their ink, their paper, their hard drives — to replicate a pattern of information.

IP is a direct violation of actual, physical property rights. It's a crony's charter.

And if you think this is just some academic debate, look at the hellscape this system has created. Every single problem liberals blame on "capitalistic greed" online is a direct downstream effect of this government monopolization.

• The "Right to Repair" is a joke because John Deere and Apple use copyright on their software to make it illegal for you to fix the tractor or the phone you supposedly own. They've used the power of the state to turn you into a digital serf who has to beg them for permission to use your own property.

• The Streaming Wars are bleeding you dry because a handful of mega-corporations are using copyright to Balkanize our culture. They hoard content behind digital walls, forcing you to pay five different monthly tributes just to access the art and media of our time. There is no competition. It is yet another cartel operating under the protection of law.

• Online creativity is being choked to death by automated copyright systems like YouTube's Content ID. It's a digital censorship regime where massive corporations can vaporize a small creator's livelihood with a single, automated claim, no questions asked. Fair use is dead, parody is a minefield, and all of it is in service of protecting these state-backed monopolies.

The Left sees these symptoms and screams "This is the failure of capitalism!"

No, it's not. This is the predictable outcome of giving corporations a government-issued weapon to destroy competition. The greed is just a constant. The monopoly power is the variable that turns it toxic.

So stop using their language. Intellectual "property" isn't property. It's a government-issued patent of monopoly, a legal weapon handed to the powerful to crush competition. Call it what it is: a tool to control us. Maybe I haven't changed your mind today. But the next time you encounter a problem that seems like "capitalism gone wrong," all I want is for you to ask yourself: how much of this is really about IP?