I like how you used the L and l. The libertarian thinkers of Reagan’s formative years had very little to say on social issues. The pinkos hadn’t destroyed our culture back then.
I think that libertarianism doesn’t work as a political party. It’s best understood as a presumption against government. That presumption is rebuttable, but the bar is usually set pretty high. As a distinct political party, I think it pretty much has to fail. If for no other reason than open borders would bring in millions of statist voters that would end any hope of limiting government. I get all kinds of heat for bringing that up with the Reason crowd. If a role for government is acknowledged, then people will fall all along a continuum for where to draw the line. All forms of extremism seem to carry the seeds of their own destruction.
The reason for that is obvious, the contradiction of trying to combine conservative economics with a left wing social agenda in the open where people can actually see it, does not win many voters.
The only way that libertarianism can prevail, is to either corrupt the democrat party on economics, or corrupt the GOP on social issues and Christianity and traditional Americanism.