That is a bold face lie!
Reagan never professed to being a Libertarian! You've pulled one small portion, out of context from an extensive interview.
I started posting segments from that 1975 Reason Magazine interview with Reagan here on FreeRepublic, long before most folks even knew it existed. I'd never seen anyone else ever post a single word, or remark from it. I'm very familiar with that particular Reagan interview. In fact, after having served on three Reagan campaigns for the Presidency, I'm very familiar with Reagan's positions on all the issues.
In that interview, Reagan was basically talking about his desire for a smaller and less intrusive federal government and how this conservative position he held, was mirrored by some libertarians, in their desire for they called "limited government". Many other Libertarians go far beyond the idea of "limited government". Many Libertarians are actually anti-government anarchists. Reagan wasn't anti-government, but he was pro America, all the way.
As a conservative Republican, Reagan wanted tax reductions and real tax reform, to reduce funding for the bloated federal bureaucracy, that eventually would reduce the size and scope of the federal government. Beyond Reagan's agreement on the issue of the overwhelming need for fiscal responsibility, Reagan never claimed to be a libertarian, nor did he support the libertarian agenda, philosophy and ideology. Never.
Reagan was a moral conservative above all else.
On many specific issues, Ronald Reagan's moral and political conservatism was obvious. Reagan never supported the legalization of drugs, or prostitution in America. Reagan did support a strong military armed forces, which is quite the opposite from what is espoused in the Libertarian Party platform. Reagan was a strong law and order conservative and supported America's criminal justice system. If ever given the opportunity, Libertarians would dismantle that criminal justice system and let criminals out to run wild on society. The Libertarians idea of victimless crimes is a moral outrage against our law abiding and orderly society.
Reagan also was a strong pro-lifer and supported the right to life for the unborn human child. The Libertarian Party platform supports the pro-choice, abortion on demand agenda. Reagan doubled the budget of America's National Drug Control Policy and made the federal governments overall effort against drug abuse a priority in his administration. Libertarians support across the board legalization of illicit drugs, like marijuana, heroin and cocaine. Most American's support interdiction and incarceration as the best ways to control the illicit drug problem in America, while at the same time they oppose decriminalization and legalization of these harmful substances.
Heres a passage form that 1975 Reason magazine article, you seemed to have left out and for good reason.
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.
Reagan also said, that same interview:
Well, third parties have been notoriously unsuccessful; they usually wind up dividing the very people that should be united. And then we elect the wrong kind-the side we're out to defeat wins.
People should never confuse Ronald Reagan's staunch conservatism, with the extreme agenda of the Libertarian Party. Reagan was a strong believer in individualism, as all conservatives are, but he didn't support allowing individuals to walk all over society and he didn't support the libertarian idea of upholding the principles of absolute and unrestricted liberty. That type of attitude and behavior breeds chaos which leads to anarchy. Ronald Reagan never supported chaos and anarchy. In fact, Reagan was a strong supporter of the federal government his whole life and said so on many occasions. Note the following passage from Reagan.
It is not my intention to do away with government. It is rather to make it work -- work with us, not over us; stand by our side, not ride on our back. Government can and must provide opportunity, not smother it; foster productivity, not stifle it.
First Inaugural Address, January 20, 1981
On the issue of political compromise, something Libertarian's are fundamentally opposed to, Reagan said the following:
"When I began entering into the give and take of legislative bargaining in Sacramento, a lot of the most radical conservatives who had supported me during the election didn't like it. "Compromise" was a dirty word to them and they wouldn't face the fact that we couldn't get all of what we wanted today. They wanted all or nothing and they wanted it all at once. If you don't get it all, some said, don't take anything.
"I'd learned while negotiating union contracts that you seldom got everything you asked for. And I agreed with FDR, who said in 1933: 'I have no expectations of making a hit every time I come to bat. What I seek is the highest possible batting average.'
>I>"If you got seventy-five or eighty percent of what you were asking for, I say, you take it and fight for the rest later, and that's what I told these radical conservatives who never got used to it."
Ronald Reagan, from his autobiography, An American Life
Stop trying to deceive people with lies and distortions about the fine conservative record of Ronald Reagan.