[Gene Eric]

You're absolutely correct -- the LP platform is completely #d up; ergo, my question about the noun vs the proper noun.

There's no real way to contrast conservatism from statism. There are many Conservatives that want the govt to apply "conservative" law, and others that don't. Conservatism is essentially the opposite of leftism, not the opposite of libertarianism.

The following is an adaptation of a typical political orientation graph. I'm somewhere between conservatism and libertarianism. The parenthetical terms are mine, but the ism points are generally accepted in the realm of political analysis.

            Statism
            
  (despots)    /\    (no comment)
              /  \    
             /    \
 Leftism    /      \ Conservatism
            \      /
             \    /  
 (Liberals)   \  /   (Founding Fathers)
               \/
            
          Libertarianism

[ansel12]

You are left, we aren’t.

[rashley]

...interesting model, but I think viewing this on a continuum expresses it better. Totalitarianism (Communism, other forms of despotism) to the far left, followed closely by Fascism. ...a bit to the right of that: Socialism, then Corporate Socialism, etc. (Democrats are Socialists, Republicans are generally Corporate Socialists.) The other extreme would be Anarchy, not Libertarianism.

For those not comfortable with Libertarianism, try “Natural Law” instead. There is not much difference, and Natural Law relies on morality. The Founding Fathers were clearly Natural Law proponents. They repeatedly referred to the Creator and Providence. The Declaration of Independence is the greatest expression of Natural Law ever penned - although I wish Jefferson had not dropped “property” from Locke’s original.