I agree. It's important that others understand that difference. Neither Boehner nor any of the other big government republicans represent the views of their constituents, let alone the entire country's.

OK, Hogwash. LOL. I meet a lot of self professed "libertarians" who, after a bit of discussion, I can find little more than one or two items that we can see eye to eye on. I'm not saying there are no true libertarians out there, not at all. I'm just saying that far too many liberals adopt the libertarian camouflage to go along or get along or some to just hide their true leanings, such as our friend maph.

You also might disagree with me, but it's easy to be a libertarian, compared to either a conservative or a liberal. Each require a very definitive set of public standings that are rather ideologically pure. Libertarians tend to straddle the ditch on several key issues the others won't cross.

Your list of such areas is far too short friend. Please allow me to expand it;
Church and state separation
gun control
education (federal or local control)
welfare
veterans benefits (liberals lump this with welfare, conservatives will not)
military force usage
expanding federal gov. powers
states rights issues
EPA (and several other ABC depts.)
and as you mentioned,
marriage
abortion

There are many more where liberals find good camo as libertarians while being true liberals.

I just find the true libertarian to be a very rare cat. They are out there and the real test is if I can openly speak to them for 15 minutes without their head (or mine) exploding from the strain. True libertarians and I can get along just fine (I just see them as backslid conservatives), but liberals who are hiding in the ranks WILL show their true colors in minutes and the fireworks begin. LOL

I could start listing points, but I'm just too tired to type that much tonight, there is nothing you can say that will undo months of liberal postings. So, let me just say NO, heck NO. Liberal, yes, libertarian, no, unless you think being 90% liberal, 5% socialist, 3% conservative and 2% that is just wild eyed fancy makes you a libertarian.

But your not alone. Most people who want to call themselves libertarians are actually closet liberals - some come out of the closet and some show what they really are over time. In the end most lay all their hopes on that 5% bit of conservatism, hoping it will offset all the rest by labeling the whole as libertarian.

Like a sinner hoping to slide into heave by going to church on Christmas and Easter, you hope you might have enough grace to slide by, but like that sinner, the scales just may find you lacking.
.

DRIVE A STAKE THROUGH THE HEART OF OBAMACARE! PERIOD! ! We don't need a replacement! !

Good!

Let's just replace it with true capitalism. How 'bout that?

re: Pence.
"The reasons are more pragmatic..."
"In the whirling Heraclitian flux which is the pragmatist's universe, there are no absolutes. There are no facts, no fixed laws of logic, no certainty, no objectivity." -- Leonard Peikoff

How does stealing money to distribute as you like make you a conservative? I'd admire him if he continued to refuse it. This is politics, though. Believing that YOU can spend other people's money better than they can themselves. I bet he hasn't tried to find an individual medical policy lately. Maybe he'd be a little slower to take what isn't his to give to others.

I was so good at mowing lawns when I was 12 that I made $5/hour, which was 4 times the minimum wage, in '61. that was my first job, and I couldn't handle the demand.

McDonald's was just starting out, back then (Ray Kroc bought into it in '55.).

neither mine nor theirs were supposed to be "living" wages. it wasn't until I got to the USAF, where I initially got $3.18/hour at age 22, that I got married. but my wife and I didn't estimate that we could afford a family, then -- too poor and too young. so, we waited. and waited.

the 1st problem with "minimum wages", of course, is govt interference in private job contracts. the second is the abdication of personal responsibility -- you don't marry or have kids unless you can afford to do it.
-- j

is there no aspect of that title, above, which you find sarcastic?
and sex causes death, because it precedes it.
making love, then, is a form of inverse birth control -- it causes birth, well, sometimes. "control" implies non-birth, which "varies", like the results of diet pills. -- j

The problem with the "safety net" is that it is more akin to a spider's web than a trampoline. In the way back days, the "safety net" was provided by family, friends, religious and volunteer organizations. Did these always work? No. Do today's myriad of taxpayer programs always work? No. The difference is that the old ways did not look upon the unfortunate as meal tickets.

Power is probably going to be a winning answer, khalling. It definitely will be the leader in the clubhouse for a while.

power.
I'm too jaded to be surprised. These politicians always underwhelm. There are only a few real leaders. They remain consistent .They do not compromise on foundations. That's difficult to do sometimes. Supporting liberty and freedom on one hand but not open borders, decriminalizing drugs, outlawing abortion on the other hand.

Mike Pence used to be someone I thought I could support. What should we call the disease that makes people with spines become like mush when they go to Washington?

It isn't. Mike Pence has gone all mushy on those who elected him.