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After reading your profile page, its clear, you are a violent and dangerous political malcontent. You trash conservative Republicans like myself, with caustic and incindiary rhetoric, calling us "evil" socialists and "sociopaths", because they don't agree with or support your political philosophy of fringe extremism. Not only that, but you bluntly state, you're willing to committ premeditated murder.

Here's a quote from your profile page.
"I cannot think of one elected official for whom I would brake, if I saw them crossing the street, nor one for whom I would not put the vehicle in reverse and back over, afterwards."

Whether you consider yourself a libertarian, or a Libertarian --- the definition of a "Libertarian" is, a member of a political party that advocates libertarian philosophy --- your rhetoric and behavior labels you a fringe extremist and reactionary absolutist. This isn't the type of rhetoric that Ronald Reagan was engaged in. Reagan was a moral/law and order conservative and never talked of killing his fellow conservative Republicans, nor his political opponents on the leftwing either.

The first quote from Ronald Reagan, posted by Doug Fiedor:
"If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism. I think conservatism is really a misnomer just as liberalism is a misnomer for the liberals -- if we were back in the days of the Revolution, so-called conservatives today would be the Liberals and the liberals would be the Tories. The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom and this is a pretty general description also of what libertarianism is."-- Ronald Reagan

Here’s the definition of libertarian, from Merriam-Webster:
an advocate of the doctrine of free will; a person who upholds the principles of absolute and unrestricted liberty esp. of thought and action

The key word in this definition is, of course, liberty, which is freedom from arbitrary or despotic control.

I stand by my original statement. It is incorrect to use Libertarian and libertarian interchangeably. Reagan Man pointed out the following:

"...the definition of a "Libertarian" is, a member of a political party that advocates libertarian philosophy..."

Of course, the Libertarian Party does advocate some libertarian principles, but what makes it a skewed sample of libertarians is that it goes too far advocating principles beyond those that fit the label of libertarian. The Libertarian Party demands freedom from legitimate, limited, constitutional government, in addition to arbitrary or despotic control. It advocates adherence to the Constitution, only when it is convenient to the fringes of the party (anarchists/ACLU types), who tend to be quite vocal and have a large hand in writing the platform. It is in this area that I believe the Libertarian Party is inconsistent (see prior post). And it is in this way that the grammatical error of using Libertarian and libertarian interchangeably becomes a larger error that grossly alters the meaning of what is being said.

Ronald Reagan articulated a similar sentiment, in the quote posted by Reagan Man:
“Now, I can't say that I will agree with all the things that the present group who call themselves Libertarians in the sense of a party say, because I think that like in any political movement there are shades, and there are libertarians who are almost over at the point of wanting no government at all or anarchy. I believe there are legitimate government functions. There is a legitimate need in an orderly society for some government to maintain freedom or we will have tyranny by individuals. The strongest man on the block will run the neighborhood. We have government to insure that we don't each one of us have to carry a club to defend ourselves.”

So, my original point stands:
“Both quotes from Ronald Reagan make sense to people on both sides of this issue, if you take notice of where the 'l' is lower case, and where it is capitalized.”

As for the conclusion of Reagan Man’s last point:
“…your rhetoric and behavior labels you a fringe extremist and reactionary absolutist. This isn't the type of rhetoric that Ronald Reagan was engaged in. Reagan was a moral/law and order conservative and never talked of killing his fellow conservative Republicans, nor his political opponents on the leftwing either.”

I did not, nor will I attempt to imply that Ronald Reagan is or was a fringe extremist or reactionary absolutist. I did not, nor will I attempt to claim that Reagan ever did or ever will engage in such rhetoric. I did not, nor will I attempt say that Ronald Reagan ever did or ever will talk of killing fellow conservative Republicans or political opponents.

My point is simply that Ronald Reagan’s posts will make sense if you read what he said, understanding that there is a difference between Libertarian and libertarian. If you read the second quote, he even makes it clear that he understands this difference, even though the quote is 27 years old.

There seems to be a knee-jerk hostile reaction to the thought that Reagan may have had something in common with libertarians. I think that this is largely because of a misunderstanding of just what libertarians and Libertarians are – there is a difference. I do not think that anyone who has posted in this thread is attempting to blemish the record of the man who slashed taxes, won the cold war, and maintained the dignity of the office of the Presidency.

"your rhetoric and behavior labels you a fringe extremist and reactionary absolutist. This isn't the type of rhetoric that Ronald Reagan was engaged in. Reagan was a moral/law and order conservative and never talked of killing his fellow conservative Republicans, nor his political opponents on the leftwing either."

"The missiles fly at midnight... Gorby" Do you mean that ronald reagan? Nah, he would never threaten his political adversaries...

Reagan was the most anti-big-government president this nation has ever had since jefferson... another dangerous revolutionary in your book too right? You know, "that government governs best, which governs least," Jefferson?

Reagan ACTIVELY courted the libertarian vote, and got it, was appreciative of it, and said so. The republican party has a large and growing daily consortium of "dangerous types, the likes Schmedlap, Fiodor and Robinson... thanks largely to efforts of guys like you.

Congrats Schmedlap... you too have made rmans rather extensive list of most dangerous and violent political malcontents... which includes Ronald Reagan's own kids, roflmao...

You and Doug Feidor... MUST be satan incarnates... lol...

Rman, do you still check under your bed at night for those nasty "libertarian monsters"?

Get a night light dude, you're buggin'.