Replies

That's very close to my own philosophy, which is why I at times describe myself as a "small r" republican (and once, bizarrely considering your comment, a "neo-Catonian".. Cicero talked too much). I'm also a "big R" Republican, but that only describes party affiliation.

The libertarian movement itself is made up of both anarcho-capitalists, who advocate a free-market system with no government (which I believe is impossible to sustain in the long run), and those who advocate a strict, limited constitutional government which is only involved in protecting liberty and enforcing contracts. My view of libertarianism is that it's an idealistic philosophy that needs to be tempered with a healthy dose of realism in order to be an effective governing philosophy.

Generally speaking, I default to the libertarian position on most issues unless I'm convinced that government intervention is needed in order to preserve liberty in society as a whole and in the long run. This, of course, causes me to take positions that would cause many card-carrying Libertarians to label me a "statist", though, to me, it just means I'm reasonable.