Re: Spoken like a true socialist...
I disagree.
What you say is absolutely true of the Republicans, however...
As I mentioned in my previous post, I really dislike the Republicans, so if the Republicans and Libertarians were that similar, I wouldn't entertain their philosophy. I am a card carrying member of the ACLU, (civil liberties and the Bill of Rights is one of my major concerns) but I don't belong to the Libertarian party. I just like many of their ideas in theory (and I loath the fascists currently in power).
BTW, having free markets for EVERYONE and letting big business criminals run rampant are two different things. If the Libertarians were to propagate the current status quo in regards to corporate corruption and theft, I would end my support immediately, however they haven't done that as far as I can see.
The problem is that the right wing of Libertarian thought (which is what you are focusing on) is not true of all Libertarians. If it became so, it might resemble some aspects of the big business Republicans. However, most Libertarians seem to be little people themselves and have a much more balanced viewpoint. If you had watched their convention, you would have seen lots and lots of average Americans there.
Libertarians will never be a major force in American politics anyway. The philosophy is far too disjointed and the disparity between right, left and beyond is too great to allow a cohesive and winnable platform to occur.
;0)
Wiz