FBXL Social

Definitely something that makes libertarianism a thing which can only be used in certain societies: only a society which is just enough not to be governed strictly can live with a few restrictions. If the society without constant watch from the government would annihilate itself, then of course government is going to be required.

But there is a particularly ironic thing that I found out recently: one of the benefits of liberal democratic governance is that a democratic government can take much more from the populace before people start to get upset, but the only sort of society that can really make use of a democratic government is one that is relatively high trust and has social cohesion, the same sort of society that can succeed under libertarianism. A low trust society will quickly devolve into oligarchy or devolve into tyranny which will allow much less of the society being dedicated to the state.

So in this way, paradoxically, the same population that could thrive with the smallest government will also tolerate the largest government, and as conditions that allow a populace to be governed with a small government erode, the maximum size of government that can be imposed on those people also declines.