After over a year of knowing libertarians I have pushed to figure out their vision of society - and if you corner some of them they say there should be a small, good accountable government. It is not clear, however, how that government would be different from existing governments.
The principal difference with the society is that it is meant to be kept in check by people with pitchforks. I suspect that's what the founding fathers envisioned for the US, but television distracted the population and people are now more concerned about reality television, than reality.
We know that libertarians distinguish themselves from anarcho-types who hate the state, although they feel they are kindred spirits.
From what I understand, I think the government they envision is essentially a local, small area government. It is unclear what this government's function would be or how it would be funded, because we know they hate tax.
As far as I can gather, the government wouldn't provide any social security, food stamps, welfare... because some libertarians believe this is what community should provide. In other words, its up to our neighbours and loved ones to take care of that, and there doesn't seem like there is any safe-guards in case they can't. It is not clear what happens to people if they leave the community. It is also unclear whether there are any police, jails and a legal system. Although I suspect a legal system would be based on negotiation for dispute resolution.
Education would be privately funded and if you have bright but poor children they would miss out I think, unless you can teach them yourself.
Common property is managed according to Ostrom according to some. I am not sure if this is limited to air, water, forests, natural resources, land or whether it might extend to the economy, a justice system, healthcare or food as well.
We know there are some libertarians who like Amish societies and communes, although it is unclear what happens if one wishes, say, to move from the commune that is New York to San Francisco's commune, especially if you have no connections to remote communes (I always wondered how communes worked on large scale). How exchange rates would be managed between communes or even if there would be money in libertarian world, but I suspect there probably would be.
There would be corporations but there would be no limited liability but I am not sure if there would be a military.
As you can see, these changes to society are not merely cosmetic but require much thought instead of large brush strokes for them to be taken seriously. And although I have strived for over a year to understand the nuances of the libertarian world view it is not easy to wade through blogs that read like legal documents.
This is my good faith attempt to draw a picture of what I understand libertarian world to look like.
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