I think this is an underpinning of some of the potential pitfalls on being STRICTLY libertarian.
If you "defang" government to the point that it cannot encroach on individual liberty, or state liberty, it has been declawed to the point that it can't effectively do anything.
For instance, in the beginning of the country, before the constitution, the government couldn't force states to pay taxes, for instance, to maintain the military, which is something that everyone benefited from. We took that to just about the brink, with the articles of confederation, before we finally hammered down, a broader more powerful federal government out of necessity.
I'm not sure the strong centralized US military went on to run up a good track record for your point here :)
But I actually see it as the opposite. When you have "libertarianish" aspects of a centralized state, it seems possibly the worst of both worlds. Like businesses who are free to go after profit, but then a centralized court system who allows them to pollute.
Whereas if/when there is an absence of government, you'd also have a different licensing and regulating mechanism, which (I would argue) would actually keep pollution and other bad behavior in check.
I wasn't trying to say what it all became is the greatest and requires no thought about the matter, I was trying to say we had a really libertarian society once, during our countries infancy, and we ended it for very specific reasons.
Libertarianism seems like a middle age man thinking back on his "glory days" and forgetting about how much he hated it when he was living through it..
I see..
Government can change and act in ways that don't necessarily reflect what the people want. And since the government is steered most by the people inside it (or well connected to it), there's generally a pressure towards larger government. So whether "we" decided to move in that direction is I think unclear.
And even if we did, it doesn't mean we were right.
Most people who think about libertarianism I think are usually thinking about principles and the best way forward, I don't think that many are basing it on the past or how things were in early US history.
At least, I know I certainly don't.
I see what you meant tho and appreciate your clarification.