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,,, I'm glad you've brought up the Libertarian thing. One of the hardest things for me to come to grips with on FR is the definition of a Libertarian. I'm a New Zealander, living in New Zealand. I haven't been able to get a concise and constructive understanding of the difference between Republican and Libertarian. At the risk of me being flamed for hijacking this thread, can you or anyone try this in twenty five words or less?

25 words? -- No.
-- I've probably posted close to 25 thousand in my 4 years here on the subject, and haven't even come close to convincing the so-called conservatives here that I'm conservative & they aren't.
-- It's a catch 22 situation.

You have to really believe in the individual liberty principles of the constitution, to be a true conservative. -- They don't.

I haven't been able to get a concise and constructive understanding of the difference between Republican and Libertarian

A libertarian is a conservative that is addicted to drugs and wants it legal. A republican can be either someone that wants smaller gov't etc. or someone that just wants gov't to force others on its agenda rather than the liberal agenda.

I haven't been able to get a concise and constructive understanding of the difference between Republican and Libertarian.

You're confused because Libertarians describe themselves, and then (some) conservatives and/or liberals contradict that by describing their silly fantasies about what they imagine Libertarians to be.

Listen to the former, not the latter.

For example, I'm against the War on Drugs for the same reason I think the Prohibition of alcohol was counterproductive and a huge waste. That does *not* mean that I'm a proponent of getting drunk *or* stoned, nor does it mean that I'm an alcoholic drug addict, but I've been accused of that countless times by conservatives who ought to know better. (In truth, a six-pack of beer lasts about half a year in my fridge, and I tried marijuana very briefly a quarter century ago.)

At the risk of me being flamed for hijacking this thread, can you or anyone try this in twenty five words or less?

Like any political or social philosophy, you can't do it justice in 25 words. This is a quick overview, though: http://www.cato.org/dailys/01-01-99.html

In short, and at the risk of grossly oversimplifying it, liberterianism is the belief that most things which government does today would be better handled through private or societal means. Using government to enforce, at the point of a gun, one-size-fits-all "solutions" (often in the absence of any real problem) all too often creates more messes than it cures.

I haven't been able to get a concise and constructive understanding of the difference between Republican and Libertarian. At the risk of me being flamed for hijacking this thread, can you or anyone try this in twenty five words or less?

A Republican believes the gov't can tell you what to do, as long as it's grounded in conservative principles.
(Ex.: roads are built at taxpayer expense, and the speed limit is 55 MPH.)
(Ex.: taxpayers shall fund a superpower-level military.)

A Libertarian believes the gov't can only tell you to not harm someone else.
(Ex.: roads are built by private companies, and can specify any speed limit they like.)
(Ex.: taxpayers shall fund a military only sufficient to defend our borders.)