——The Founding Fathers considered themselves to be libertarians.-——
Geez Louise....
They were not libertarians....they were either Federalist or Classical liberals.
Look the definition up of classical liberal before you throw your knee out of joint....
On the contrary, even Hamilton--the arch Federalist--was sufficiently libertarian, that he urged in the Federalist papers the importance of an armed citizenry as a check on Government. What do you call that, if not "libertarian."
Why would any one claiming to be Conservative, in the American context, deny the overriding importance of individual & community liberty, in the traditional American context? People who put individual "liberty," accountability & responsibility first, are libertarians. (My noting the accountability & responsibility, here, is because any historian knows that without those moral qualities, no people have ever preserved their liberty.)
William Flax