Talk:Night-watchman state

Definitely Not a Correct Association

From the article...

As a term, night-watchman state (German: Nachtwächterstaat) was coined by German socialist Ferdinand Lassalle in an 1862 speech in Berlin. He criticized the bourgeois liberal limited government state, comparing it to a night-watchman whose sole duty was preventing theft. The phrase quickly caught on as a description of capitalist government, even as liberalism began to mean a more involved state, or a state with a larger sphere of responsibility.

From me...

How could minarchy possibly be confused with any capitalist government? There is nothing minimal about capitalist governments, as they are all massive bureaucracies. LOL.

Thibeinn (talk) 19:13, 9 November 2020 (UTC)

You are getting minarchism completely wrong. Minarchism doesn't call for a capitalist government. It calls for no government intervention in the economy. You OBVIOUSLY are expressing bias. 73.53.74.125 (talk) 19:52, 10 August 2025 (UTC)

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Night-watchman state may be considered a derogatory term

Yes, its true. As a minarchist i consider it a derogatory term. Why? Well, because it makes us feel a bit put down. You see, we do not want to have a super long name like Night-watchman state, we want to be a normal ideology. So please, do not portray us as "Advocates of a Night-watchman state" portray us as "minarchists". MinarchistGuy381 (talk) 19:57, 10 August 2025 (UTC)

Is it correct to use a derogatory term coined by an opponent of the idea, and only used as such?

Reading this page was the first time I saw the term "night-watchman state". Usually, you see the word minarchist, even by critics, because it's the term most on that strain of politics seem to call themselves. Even "ancapistan" is used by them, this is just an obscure, niche insult.

It just makes it look biased. Imagine if you saw a page for "Leftoidism, sometimes called Socialism", that goes on to quote how some MAGA republican used that word once in a speech in Miami. Would that look Neutral? 2804:14D:2C86:433D:0:0:0:BD (talk) 16:20, 1 September 2025 (UTC)

Agreed. Mainstream discussions of this ideology definitely use the term “minarchist” over “night-watchman state”. It’s a term I’ve never heard used outside of this article. ~2026-28935-87 (talk) 12:41, 13 May 2026 (UTC)

As a minarchist myself, I admit to liking and occasionally using the phrase "Night-watchman state". I find nothing "derogatory" about it. It invokes vivid imagery and atmosphere that the more abstract, academic term "minarchy" lacks. It's like something out of the 19th century in that way... almost Victorian... it has style, and I like style. That said, I would support re-naming the article to "Minarchy" as it is in fact more common. Marcus Markup (talk) 13:54, 13 May 2026 (UTC)

I had assumed that "minarchy" was more common than "night watchman state" but looking at the world-wide results in Google Trends since they began tracking, "Night watchman state" is much more common. Also, a Google search for "night watchman state" in quotes returns 28 pages of results. "Minarchy" returns 8. "Minarchy" seems to be more popular in libertarian political philosophy circles, but "Night watchman state" seems to be used much more by normies. So, as the encyclopedia caters to the general public and not subsets of the public, I think the current page title is indicated and fine. Marcus Markup (talk) 16:50, 13 May 2026 (UTC)

the use of the term "left-libertarianism"

this article terms this right-wing ideology as left wing. economically right wing that is. left-libertarianism is often associated with marxism or anarchism, not libertarianism. please fix this. 3wayer (talk) 20:16, 13 January 2026 (UTC)