It is a complete falsehood that Americans lived in total freedom in earlier times. There were laws galore restricting freedoms mostly through the States and Local assemblies (not federal) covering everything from religious services to vagrancy. Of course, in the Slaveocracy white men could be drafted and forced to serve on slave patrols to control the two-legged livestock of the Slaveocrats who controlled those states totally.
Libertarianism--i.e. the philosphy which puts Liberty above security, and recognizes that men have free will--is not the same thing as license or anarchy. Indeed, in the context of our Constitutional Republic, which involves the sacredness of oaths, honor and service, is almost the exact antithesis. Washington, Jefferson, Madison, etc., were indeed Libertarians, however you deny it. They also believed that people were accountable--an obvious conclusion from the belief that man has free will--and favored punishment for various socially destructive activities, for which many anti-Libertarians in America today urge toleration.
Again Liberty is not license. And those of us who prize Liberty are often the most Conservative of all in the preservation of traditional values. Just what is your problem with basing political movements on defense of the traditional Liberty of a free people? That after all, is what "Libertarian" in the present context means.
William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site