I have read and thought about the libertarian (Rothbardian) argument that individuals should have the freedom to choose which defence agency they want for protection of their rights. To try and resolve it I engaged in a “thought experiment” a bit similar to that which Rand mentions ie the competing agencies showing up at your front door following a dispute with your neighbour. To take the libertarian argument to its logical conclusion, each individual would presumably also have the freedom to not contract with any defence agency ie would have the right to individual self-defence. Obviously this would result in pure anarchy – the opposite of a society in which individual rights are protected by objective law. Based on this I rejected the Rothbardian argument and agreed with Rand’s position of the need for a limited constitutional government with a monopoly on the use of retaliatory force in the given geographic area.