Do you consider the United States to be the pinnacle of human freedom, so far?
Do you accept the narrative that the founders were driven by an inherently ancap impulse, and did their level best to restrain the leviathan?
Obviously, the system isn't perfect, people have been undermining restraints on government since before the ink was dry on the bill of rights.
If the US Constitution is the best attempt so far at curbing tyranny, should we undermine that system before we have an operational, viable alternative that provides more liberty?
If the US government were to collapse right now (more plausible than I thought it would be in my lifetime), do you believe that your neighbors are ready to institute something more moral, or are their authoritarian impulses running hot?
I don't believe Donald Trump can coherently articulate a principled line between moral and immoral use of force (or government). However, he was willing to stand up and call out the unbelievable manipulation and dishonesty of the political and media classes, and in so doing, revealed that our traditional safeguards on what liberty we have are crumbling.
Should an ancap work to shore up what we have here until we have a viable plan to create something better?
I'm familiar with the "let it burn" impulse, but I have children. We are currently living in the greatest period of peace and prosperity in human history. Must of us cannot even fathom what life would be like if we collapse the institutions that allow that. There will be blood. And it won't all come leaking out of people you don't like.
Discuss.
This is the best answer I've heard or thought of so far...
But I'm left wishing there was more we could do to help our society move in a more moral and sustainable direction.
It's somewhat unsatisfying to think that there are dark days ahead for people I respect and care about, but the best I can do is prepare to protect my family. I guess I'm just a human, and should accept my limitations realistically.
Failure to accept that we can't control everything is one of the primary causes of the statist disease.
Also, you're right, the articles of confederation do seem to have been better. I haven't studied the subject much beyond what I read in my public school textbooks (I was the nerd who would have actually read and thought a little about what they said).
That's something I should learn more about, as a lesson about how people react to newfound freedom, and how they might react to a new society founded on such principles, if nothing else.