A lot of people I know who call themselves libertarians - not all, but the loudest - are what I would describe as opportunistic freedom-warriors when it suits t

A lot of people I know who call themselves libertarians - not all, but the loudest - are what I would describe as opportunistic freedom-warriors when it suits their purposes. Pointing out to them the degree to which their safety and prosperity is being safeguarded by the government they think unnecessary just results in cognitive dissonance for them: They can't accept it emotionally. So they live in a fantasy where they believe they ultimately control every aspect of their own destiny, and where everyone else must be a fool, but their political views are not much more than a series of post-justifications for being fairly lousy human beings.