Geoffrey MillerVerified account

As Pinker says, there's currently no libertarian utopia in the world. Without a safety net, you'll have a lot more poverty and exclusion.

Safety net need not be a government monopoly. In fact, it would be more effective if people were able to dispose of their income to help others directly, instead of having it taken away and used for the military industrial complex and other wasteful spending.

We have an wasteful and ineffective system now. Why are libertarian ideas always summarily dismissed on the grounds that they aren’t likely to yield a utopia?

I think my main objection is that libertarian put too much trust in free markets and have a naïve conception of human nature. Without compulsory taxes almost no one will pay them (cf. tragedy of the commons) and state infrastructure and protection of poor will collapse.