In my libertarian days, the 1970s were a mere 25 years or so from the horrors of fascism in Europe, and Stalinism in Russia, while the stifling collectivism of China and eastern Europe still prevailed. In this sense, the early libertarian movement in America was a reaction trying to answer the question "how can we prevent this from happening to our country." So, in keeping with some of our ideological traditions, a hyper-individualism was embraced. No one, including government officials, may coerce another. Taxation becomes theft, and all that arise from tax payments - the courts, the police, the military, the parks, the libraries, care for the elderly and the poor, government research in medicine and space, etc., etc. - are products of grand larceny. Very quickly, despite the entreaties of some of its earliest intellectual godfathers and mothers - Hayek and Rand, for example - government, in the libertarian mindset, became analogous to The State, where the daily functions of democratic nation-states were just barely distinguishable from those of the worst dictatorships. And with that mindset, forget any sympathy with the concept of "citizenship," something which, I believe, we dearly need to get back to if we are to preserve and expand our democratic traditions.
The below, by David Brooks, will strike many libertarians as naive, but remember this, there has never been a functioning libertarian society in modern times; but we've had now over 70 years of dependable, reform-accepting, decent, democratic governments throughout many parts of the world. The onus is on the libertarians. Meanwhile, their efforts continue to corrode the basis for what Brooks calls "the lovely society," by making a mockery of the sentiments on which good democratic government is based, paving the way for a society of Donald Trumps.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/04/opinion/trump-taxes-and-citizenship.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0The 