Yes Eric, apparently he fooled his oldest son and his wife as to his intentions as well.Well excuse me for having failed the physical.....but I still know a lot about the changes that were made in the military. But one must recall that the military isn't a very libertarian place, nor can it be.Had you put a few years in the service you'd have seen the changes he made, which were anything other than Libertarian.
As far as military affairs go, Reagan was a "small-l" libertarian where it counted the most: he opposed conscription. Therefore, everyone there was a volunteer, and had consented to live under military rules. His foreign policy was the opposite of that espoused by the "large L" libertarians, but indeed foreign policy is one of the major differences between the "large L"s and "small L"s. Personally, I prefer Reagan's to Harry Browne's.
Besides, the topic was cultural, not military policy. Besides abortion, which libertarians and even liberals can oppose in good conscience, Reagan did nothing to advance the social/cultural conservative agenda, and indeed did much to set it back when he libertarianized the FCC.
-Eric
Given that, I am not sure what else he could have done to further the cultural agenda. He worked to kill the equal rights ammendment and appointed Judges who have (among other things) ruled that sodomy is not a civil right. That five to four ruling was courtesy of three of his appointees. Were they acting as libertarians? As Governor he threw homosexuals out of his administration and as President reinforced the vetting process to prevent them from getting security clearances... that does not sound libertarian to me!
He campaigned aggressively for the like of Strom Thurmond, Jesse Helms, Paul Laxalt and Orrin Hatch. Check to see how much he campaigned for Pete Wilson in California...not a whole lot. He worked for stricter drug laws and enforced those laws aggressively. He tried to get a prayer and flag burning ammendment to the constitution. Are these libertarian actions?
Did you ever hear of the Meese Commission? Was nearly wiping out the pornography industry a libertarian initiative? How about Williams French Smiths attempted expansion of the feds ability to wiretap and prosecute drug crimes?
A libertarian would not have tried to appoint Bork to the Supreme Court or have made William Rhenquist Chief Justice.
No, if Reagan were a Libertarian William French Smith would not have been attorney general. Michael Reagan does a good deconstruction of this theory every now and then on his show. Aside from Peggy Noonan it's not a thesis normally posited by any biographers I've read.