This leads to the idea that taxes are an important part of society since that's how we finance a peaceful and productive society. We should not let all our money go to taxes but there's a point where we need to pay taxes to have a society we want to live in. People get the dumb idea that we can ask for countless benefits from government without having to pay for them. We need to balance our wants with what's possible. The idea of paying no taxes or paying taxes that are so low that the government can't function is a recipe for disaster.
Libertarianism sounds like a nice solution to a free society in theory but in practice it's a non starter. The reality is that it falls in the same realm as fairytales and elves. It's nice to read about but it's not very practical as the primary societal philosophy of living.
The people advocating for these things simply are, or believe they are, more powerful than most of the individuals around them. It only "falls apart" from the perspective of the less powerful. If you're an incredibly wealthy individual or a large corporation who often finds the state getting in the way of the things you want to do to people, it can work out just fine for you.
It's been a while since I read it but the people in the article are mostly a mix of bought into it when they weren't actually in the private power holder group, or just misjudged the situation, misunderstood their ability to maintain some of the truly necessary fixtures of the state. Funny this time but doesn't mean future attempts will be as slapstick and self-contained as this one was.
While dismantling the state at higher levels can cause some bad stuff (19th century robber barons selling people heorin over the counter, industry dumping hazmat, stuff like that) I find it very, very hard to argue against "more than the bare minimum to keep things running" at the local level.
Edit: And I'm not a libertarian. I think there's a laundry list of things government should be involved in providing and facilitating that no true libertarian would agree with. I however, don't think the government should be meddling in the bulk of the "enforcing standards of personal behavior and commerce" stuff that a lot of people here want.
Fine you want to live under a libertarian rule? More power to you. Just don't force the rest of us to be part of it. There's plenty of places where libertarians can create their dream world. The world is a big place.
We have some in our back property.
