
Agreed.  


It is a failure of libertarianism if the ideology does not provide any
reasonable way to restrain such actions other than utopian dreams.  Just
as Marxism "fails" to specify how pure communism is to be achieved and
the state is to "wither away," libertarians frequently fail to show how
weakening the power of the state will result in improvement in the human
condition.


This is a strawman argument and fails on several grounds.  In this case,
"limited" and "big" government are not defined.  I would point out that
Lebanon, Somalia, and the former Yugoslavia are by some definitions nations
with "limited" government, while the US, Canada, and nations in Western 
Europe (where "people would rather live") are often pointed out as 
nations with "big government" from a libertarian point of view.  

The argument is not between those who want "limited" government and those
who want "unlimited" government.  It is between those who believe
government regulation in a capitalist economy serves worthwhile ends and
those who believe such regulation is neither desirable on empirical 
grounds nor justifiable on ideological grounds.

jsh