Heheh, I'm laughing 'cuz as I read this I was watching a show about how greenhouses in Germany are getting co2 piped in from factories producing it. They pump the co2 into the greenhouses which then produce denser, more leafy and hardy plants and....... OXYGEN!!!!! Hell, if piping it in became unfeasable, they could turn it into dry ice and ship it to them! Every time I buy perishables to be shipped to me it comes packed in the stuff.
Let's see, how many issues does this process address at the same time.... Global warming of course, food production, air pollution in general, unemployment and poverty. All addressed by businesses struggling to survive in socialistland. Imagine what they could do with this one simple idea if government weren't in the way!
Ziggy, since it's a hard reality that poverty, sickness and destitution exist whether there is government or not, we simply have to examine what method works best to minimize the impact of them in the real world. You maintain that government provides a means to keep individuals from behaving recklessly and irrationally selfish by ignoring their neighbor's plight (whatever that may be).
I contend that this behavior not only flourishes under governments, it is always abetted by and participated in by government. This is commonly known as corruption, and government of any kind can be counted on to make becoming corrupt its first order of business. Just take a drive through the west side of Chicago to see this in every form available in the US. Those unfortunates get 'taken care of' by federal, state, county, municipal and 'community' 'efforts' to alleviate poverty, ignorance and hopelessness. They are some of the most impoverished, ignorant and hopeless people in the US.
Don't waste time defending your current position (I certainly don't care whether you are really libertarian or not). Instead, take a moment to ask yourself; is it really the coercion of government that actually solves problems and alleviates suffering? Or, is it creative people rationally interested in creating a better world\country\community in which to trade? If it is the individual that creates the solution, is the government the only vehicle able to utilize it? Better yet, ask yourself if government is even capable of implementing solutions for anything? I think it has been well documented that bureaucracy measures success by how well it conserves and perpetuates itself. Other forms of government either only feign or completely avoid addressing the problems of its people. That's all I'm saying..... Just take the time to ask yourself these questions. After that, think, feel and act the way believe is best.