Actually libertarianism is playing a huge role, it is a part of the national political argument, that is why they formed a party, to promote their philosophy and interject it into the national political mind.
Rinos love being able to explain that they are conservative on economics but “libertarian on some issues”, or “more libertarian on social issues”.
Read this thread and you can see how the gay marriage and drug agenda are promoted and protected here by libertarians, hidden behind the argument that they are merely being “libertarian”, they themselves aren’t fighting conservatives on gay marriage of course, is their claim, yet look at how angry and persistent they are.
Libertarianism is anti-conservative.
I notice that the “libertarians” are strangely silent on the daily intrusion of the government mandating seat belts in cars, something that affects almost 100% of the population.
Instead, we have endless railing about issues that affect only a few.
A RINO is someone who calls himself a "Republican", but doesn't give a rat's ass about the republic. To quote Rush "Words mean things."
>> Libertarianism is anti-conservative.
Not every FReeper agrees especially those supporting Snowden as a hero.
It’s not very libertarian to enact law that forces the citizens to support and service homosexual behavior. And neither is it libertarian to kill nascent human life. So, I think it makes sense to differentiate the conflicted Libertarian Party platform from libertarianism.