The night-watchman state or minarchy, whose proponents are known as minarchists, is a model of a state that is limited and minimal, whose functions depend on libertarian theory. ... In the United States, this form of government is mainly associated with libertarian and Objectivist political philosophy.

This one makes sense to me.

Speyside2 wrote:

Spey2, reading about such EXTREMIST political philosophies as Minarchism may lead you on a path to Anarcho-Capitalism as it did me. 😨 😂

I know many of the founding generation were minarchists (not all of course) but that came as an outgrowth of their desire to reacquire their customary rights as Englishmen in the new confederacy that were increasingly denied by the King and Parliament that led to the revolution. They were "conservative" in the true meaning of the word.
Jefferson was a minarchist but no pie in the sky minarchist, he knew the nature of men to seek power over others through government and the difficulty of reigning in any government over the generations, “The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield, and government to gain ground”, as he said.

Lew Rockwell explains some of the differences between minarchism and anarcho-capitalism in this short article. You can't help but not see that many modern-day self-described "conservatives" with all their talk of small government and fiscal responsibility aren't even close to being minarchists.

https://mises.org/library/why-i-am-anarcho-capitalist 

RayR wrote: