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To some degree you're right, promises from the sovereign are inherently easy to break. But I don't think asking for cryptographic guarantees that you can't seize my assets and institutional control or something is unreasonable or difficult these days.
Or if we want to remain within the realm of making shit up, a base culture and custom of limited government goes a long way. Made up religions like libertarianism actually have important concrete effects.
I guess another way of asking that question is how do I know you're not going to pull a Stalin? Most non-anarchist, even of the absolute monarchist kind, have an answer to that question. And when they don't, like the Italian street brawlers, it's not encouraging.
Libertarianism is not averse to massive power disparities and the problems inherent to those don't vanish just because you allege yourself to be ideologically principled. Having an 'answer' like we are playing a political game of top trumps is just an exercise in self delusion. How do I know you are not going to pull a Stalin?
To make it simple, if your promise to your outgroup is that you wont harm or disadvantage them then you are a liar. And if you believe anyone to be above the track record of human nature, be that a faith in yourself or your ingroup, you are not a serious person.
Of course it is. But delusions are necessary. Power is magic after all.
These statements are true and unobjectionable. But you may as well say God does not exist.
What I think you're missing is that the lie is not just necessary, it's righteous. And in many ways it's more true than the cynicism a rational analysis of politics must confine itself to.
Political formulas and how believable they is important. Endlessly pointing out that they're ultimately all bullshit is infantile postmodernism. If you want to be more than a thug with a gun, you need something to believe in. Even the aforementioned italian brawlers understood that, if too late to make a good religion.
I agree, but to that end I see no use for considering you or anyone else Libertarian. If everyone has to be on the same page ideologically you are not offering any more freedom than anyone else. Of course you feel free to do what you wish when you already believe in the just nature of established boundaries.
As a religion I don't like pie in the sky stuff. I much rather prefer something that's concrete like ethnicity and fixed real life borders to ground our religion in. As it's much more resistant to subversion.
Well I suppose at least nationalism is a tried and true one. And depending on which nation we're talking about, it does have limits in custom.
One has to wonder how compatible with modernity it is though. The current peace is not satisfactory, but the sort of total war that comes with true national fervor is not desirable either.
Hopefully modern warfare returns to small scale engagements, like Ukraine seems to be hinting at.
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