Why are Republicans, well, Republicans?

The Republican party must be a big disappointment to Libertarians. As an idealology, Libertarianism is logical. Republicanism is illogical. Republicans are supposed to be economic conservatives, who believe this is Christian nation, who believe women don't have the right to choose to have abortions, who frequently come out against science, and who want gun rights everywhere and at all times.

In the end, however, it's a small group of illitist, rich people who don't care about religion, guns, or anything else except tax cuts and Wall Street who have conned the middle of the country to vote for them against their own best interests. It's a very cynical party. Not really about ideas or legitimate debate.

Libertarians, while idealist in my opinion, are usually well-informed and uninfluenced by the fringe of the party. They must be pretty disappointed to see the fringe taking over with their death panels, phony tea bag parties, and overt racism.

I wouldn't call myself a Republican, but I lean more towards the conservative side. I chose this side because I am poor, and every time a liberal says they want to help the poor, they start cutting programs, so they can find more money to support abortions, or hold more gay rights seminars. Now Conservatives complain about poor people, but they don't cut medicare and cost of living raises on the disabled and elderly, they cut them on the miscreants who have never worked a day in their life to apply pressure, in the hopes they will get a job. I've come to realize that Republicans have a more realistic view of politics, where liberals just seem to eat everything their party says up like candy. They have this idea that politics work like a Disney movie. ;-)

They disagree with the Libertarian platform on some pretty key issues.

- Use of military force. Republicans generally won't adopt the non-interventionist platform of the Libertarians.

- Free trade. Many Republicans are opposed to the idea of permitting true free trade.

- Federal social programs. Most Republicans do not favor eliminating all federally funded social programs (Medicare, education, etc).

- Border policy. The Libertarian idea of modifying policy to permit open borders for (documented) migrant workers is not appealing to most Republicans.

- Too many social issues to list (abortion, drug laws, etc.)

Because Libertarians take political liberty too far. Things like the ACLU come to mind. Republicans are traditionalists who believe in the original purpose of the constitution. Libertarians are similar, but take certain parts of the constitution and draw them out much farther than they were intended.

For instance, a Libertarian would believe in the fallacy of the separation of church and state. But, I would challenge anyone to find it in the constitution. They would argue that the founders meant it when they wrote the 1st amendment. A Republican would respond by saying that the 1st amendment was meant to guarantee that no citizen would ever be required to serve a religion against their will, but that it is acceptable for a religious nation to create religious legislation. When the constitution was written, most European nations required citizens to pay a tax to the church.

the republicans got mixed up with the religious right during the 80's. the evangelicals have been pulling their platform further and further away from the financial and freedom issues and more into the social issues. it has hurt them. if a republican says they are pro choice or an atheist the religious right would have their head. being a libertarian would be going to far out there for much of the right.

Because the US is a capitalistic Republic and Republicans support that ? The libertarian party is liberal on social issues, so how can Republicans be more moderate than libertarians ? An accurate statement would be that libertarians are more moderate than Republicans. Republicans pretty much see eye to eye with libertarians, aside from their more liberal stance on social issues and their completely isolationist view of our foreign policy,and even on that I'm not to far off from them. God bless.

I guess they are pretty close in ideals as far as most things go. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure. I lean more towards the conservative end of the spectrum, but I'm agnostic so I don't identify with christian republicans and I do support gay marriage and also happen to be pro-choice. I consider myself independent, though.

How many are there.

Each on has his own unique reason.

The Rank and File are True Conservatives but they are leaving in disgust finally.

I was many years non-partisan and would never have dreamed I would join either party.

Then along came the Long Legged MacDaddy and said that they were bad people.

Well my Daddy was a wonderful man and life long Republican as were and are many millions of very fine Americans.

So I joined to tell Hussein to Kiss My Shiny Pink @ss.

People aren't Libertarians because some people are annoyed by the constant festering over medical marijuana and the gold standard.

A lot of Republicans are libertarian... well in a few years there will be a lot.