Reply #34: Yeah, I would agree with all that. Sorry, I've just seen a few too many threads that seemed designed

[Warren DeMontague]

for folks to grind axes against anyone who dares self-identify with the "l" word. Upthread someone makes the point that they hate "libertarians" MORE than conservatives. Given that the GOP has adopted pretty much every tenet of the big-L Libertarian Party's economic agenda except cutting military spending, and combined it with a crazy, 6000 year-old-flat-Earth Theocratic agenda, I have to wonder - how can that be? Libertarians are worse?

Paul is a Republican, first and foremost. Like I said, he thinks government should force women to remain pregnant against their will. He doesn't believe in the separation of church and state. That's a funny brand of any kind of "libertarianism", if you ask me.

As for the word itself, like you say, it covers a broad spectrum. I do think there is a libertarian wing of the GOP that is genuinely alienated by the God goons who have taken it over. Perhaps the thing for our party to do is figure out issues where we could appeal to them (ending the drug war, guaranteeing the right of people to control their own bodies, equal rights for gays, a broad stand for civil liberties, against censorship, etc.) as well as articulating a cogent argument for things like Single Payer and liveable min. wage, not just from a social justice perspective but also from a logical economic one... (in the process, by standing up strong for those things, we would bring Greens and Naderites on board)

...anyway, that's just my thinking. Sorry. Didn't mean to overreact to your OP. I've just seen a bunch of these threads that turned into excuses for people to grouse about the "l" (small l) word.