Libertarianism - glorious self-ownership or narcissistic self-absorption? (New Vegas)

Libertarians are an extreme subset within liberal theory. They believe in life, liberty and property, and will aim to reduce the societal burdens on their own lives until only the bare essentials remain. For a libertarian, governments only exist to protect their freedom and property. Everything else - social welfare, public goods, an aggressive military - are infringements on their autonomy. Taxes are no good at all for libertarians. #Libertarianism also has an advantage of creating clear distinctions between public and private. Private is highly emphasised, and unless it causes a problem for your liberty, the public sphere is almost non-existent. Your duties and responsibilities are minimal and uncomplicated. Another major perceived benefit of libertarianism is that it places control of your life squarely in your own hands. Your success or failure is on your own creativity, entrepreneurial spirit, and personal drive. If you want to win in the rat race of life, you can - as long as you work for it. You aren't beholden to anyone or anything - if you can dream it, you have a duty to fulfill it. On the downsides, there is the social/emotional component as well as the limitations of perspective. Getting along with people, cooperation, and the maintenance of public goods is unnecessary and often seen as an intrusion. Or worse, it's seen as an indulgence for the weak of spirit. As a result, libertarians are often unpleasant to talk to, difficult to work with, and just generally unkind to others. They may know that they need others to succeed but there's no good will or generosity there - it's a grim existentialism or fatalism and others will have to be bought or bribed to contribute to the libertarians goals. This can lead to a lack of perspective - the extreme self focus and belief in self-sufficiency means that they won’t understand problems for all viewpoints and can miss out on alternative solutions or ideas. Without the care for the beliefs or goals of others, it’s all too easy to mistake the lack of value for you with having a lack of value. Vaccinations are a good example of this - an individual might never get COVID-19, but having an inoculated population means that the whole society will never have to go into lockdown again. Paying taxes so that other people’s children may not benefit you directly, but everyone benefits from the public good of literate civic-minded citizens. Mr House is a perfect libertarian. He respects the rights of others and will bargain for what he needs when he needs it. He’ll never directly infringe on their rights. He doesn’t mind leaning on his own strength of arms in negotiations though - he’s earned it on his own strength of will. Right? But Mr House doesn’t see the danger right in front of him, and no one cares for him. No one would ever mourn him, and no one cares about his goals. And why should they? He’s demonstrated a thousand times that everyone else matters no more to him than a fancy platinum casino chip.