[mnehring]

..I think there also is a split among Libertarians that isn’t all in the forefront. I call it the difference between the Birchers and the Reason Libertarians. The former is the ‘classical’ strain that Rand talks about that seem to jump on every conspiracy, the latter are as their magazine implies, more reasonable. Although they do get preachy, they aren’t like the former, demanding 100% adherence to the Libertarian planks or you are damned. The latter seems to encourage discourse with Conservatives and looks for common ground in their different platforms. A neo-Libertarian movement has sprung out of the latter, pro strong defense Libertarians or Conservatives with Libertarian streaks on other issues. I believe this is where you see a lot of the cross-over you describe.

[Texas Fossil]

I was Republican County Chairman in a County in NM, many years ago. The Dem to Republican registration ratio was 5 to 1. There were 3 distinct groups of Republicans there. The Party active Republicans (many flavors), the John Birch element and the Mormon element. Although I found the Birchers often went off-the-reservation on wild tangents you could always count on their votes in the elections. You could also always count on the Mormons. (I am not a member of either of those groups)

[Dead Corpse]

The latter seems to encourage discourse with Conservatives and looks for common ground in their different platforms. A neo-Libertarian movement has sprung out of the latter, pro strong defense Libertarians or Conservatives with Libertarian streaks on other issues. I believe this is where you see a lot of the cross-over you describe.

I think that's the nicest thing you've ever said about libertarians.

We're wearing you down. Another ten years and you'll be right there with us.

For the Record, the LP as a Party is a farce IMO. They would know a "principled" stance if it jumped up and peed in their ear. They've fallen for dang near every piece of moonbatty nonsense to come out since Bush43 was elected to his first term.

Next best home for people like me is still the GOP. Second Amendment, Art 1 Sec 8 FedGov limits, and Property Rights are the keys to keeping us in the "conservative" family.

[perfect_rovian_storm]

In both your posts, you fail to distinguish Libertarians from libertarians, which is what the original article is about.

The split that is currently happing is actually moving a lot of conservatives toward libertarianism, not because it requires a change in their belief system, but because they've realized that they've drunk too much Republican Party Kool-Aid in the past, which has led them away from conservatism. Since the Republican Party has zero credibility in their eyes and have polluted the word 'conservative' in the process of destroying that credibility, they've moved towards libertarianism. This serves to both salvage their own credibility and to signal a willingness to work with others who disagree on certain common sticking points in order to stop the destruction of the nation.