Uncensored2008
Libertarian Radical
Go down the list of the Libertarian Party 2012 platform. On issue after issue it assumes that the federal government is the agent to demand liberty and if we elect Bob Barr, he'll make it happen. That is as wrong as the GOP or Democratic Party assuming the federal government is the agent to promise or accomplish much of anything.
Foxy, I love you dearly, but this is absurd.
Barr listed the areas where he would WITHDRAW the federal government from, restoring liberty by placing issues back in the hands of the many states and restoring Constitutional adherence.
The classical liberal sees the federal government as having Constitutional Authority to secure our rights, implement just enough regulation to facilitate us operating as one nation, and then leave us alone to form whatever sort of societies we wish to have, however we wish to do that.
Okay.
The Libertarian Party philosophy pretty much opposes that concept as it would have all people being required to have a society that the Libertarians (large L) want to have. Which is why the Libertarian Party mostly opposes those communities who want to regulate guns or allow a creche on the courthouse lawn or put crosses on the graves of fallen warriors or ban drugs. Liberty must include the ability to be 'narrow minded' and/or organize a religious or restrictive society as much as a society in which every person decides for himself/herself and there is little or no law at all. Unless we are free to organize the society we want to live in--whether we think that is good or bad-- there is no liberty at all. You still have a despot or monarch or dictator or totalitarianism dictating who and what we are and how we are required to live.
This nation has a Constitution. You're right that under Libertarian ideals, a community could not vote to have slavery, or outlaw Christianity, or prohibit the right of the people to keep and bear arms. We long ago found that certain elements are needed for communities to be legitimate within the framework of this nation. Respect of the Bill of Rights is foremost of these.