IMHO, start with the (L) party. Aside from the few things I think they are ‘wrong’ about, you can’t fault too much when the platform says “I will follow the Constitution”
Like any brand, even re-building from scratch and making things 1000% takes FOREVER to restore credibility/trust...The Republic doesn’t have that kind of time.
“But, you’re for drugs”
- No we’re for Freedom as you belong to no one.
“But, you’re for abortion”
- Here is where I 180 their platform. Egg+Sperm = new DNA = per PERSON
“But, you’re for open borders”
- With few denials, most people are free to enter/leave as they wish. Borders are still enforced, people are still scrutinized. That does not mean the visitor is a Citizen.
What they ARE for, and the GOP won’t even touch, is the systematic dismantling of the ABC departments, the Fed, the 16th (and I’d hope 17th) Amendment, etc. Now, THAT is a bold platform to get behind.
What does the GOP promise? End the Dept. of Educ.? ‘Allowing’ one to keep more of their $$ (thank you, ‘master’)? Amnesty, TSA, NSA. They can’t even pass a BALANCED BUDGET (all Cont. Resolutions @ $4T+ DEFICIT/yr), let alone one for 5+ yrs. out (HA)
I’ve got plenty of overlap with small-l libertarians and some with capital-L Libertarians. But IMO they lose the necessary translation from principle to what is pragmatic given human nature and where we are starting from.
A perfect example is their take on immigration. The country does provide, and will continue to provide, social support (even if it weren’t governmental, it would be charitable) of a nature that can’t accommodate the billions who would like to come and avail themselves of it. The open borders that you and they espouse sets us up for invasion (which some could reasonably argue is ongoing from the south) at a level and even of a type that is the first Constitutional duty of our federal government to protect us against. Also, the Libertarian position on immigration ignores the common, Western cultural baseline that is required for Constitutional self-government to work.
The basics of libertarian philosophy can be used to support either side of the abortion debate, and so don’t of themselves provide much practical help on that issue.
It is IMO the small government, reasoned but firm dismantling of those federal (and state) monstrosities is the common ground where conservatives, libertarians, moderates and independents can find a majority coalition and start to take back the government and our country. That’s why the tea party was for a time so successful despite its organizational limitations.
The GOP is so totally sold out and rotten to its core that it is not a viable vehicle for what is needed (unless, as I outlined above a ‘freedom party/tea party’ initiative can succeed in taking over the party from within by 2016).