[LowCountryJoe]

Over the years, I’ve been called a “loserdopian” on this very board more times than I can count — merely because I support getting the feds out of the drug war, except as it directly relates to interstate commerce.

The thought of having to defend liberty -- at least liberty as a default position -- on a conservative message board is interesting, isn't it?

I was once called an uber-capitalist by a FReeper as though it was supposed to be a slur for me. I wore it as a badge of honor. And then any time I saw the guy in a debate where I took an opposing view, I linked-to or mentioned the post where he wrote it.

[ellery]

The thought of having to defend liberty -- at least liberty as a default position -- on a conservative message board is interesting, isn't it?

It sure is. The same thing goes here on FR about sex offender registries, or opposition to police tyranny, or capitalism -- the contempt from some FReepers is palpable.

The fact is, conservatives can't win national office without these three factions: social conservatives, small gov/libertarians, and defense hawks. And each faction is guilty of contempt toward the others. As a result, Romney, McCain, Bush, Huckabee, etc. run the party.