Conservatism and liberalism as they relate to government have come to mean the opposite in the US, since most conservatives want to conserve the limited powers of the Constitution and liberals want new state power to impose equality of outcome. A smaller government is less likely to boss you around. For this reason, libertarians vote for conservatives more often than not. At least this one does.
I wouldn't say there's much of an overall difference in the positions on state power between liberals and conservatives; they mostly disagree over what the state power should be used for. Liberals focus on state regulation of the economic sphere and think people's non-economic activity should be mostly left alone, whereas conservatives focus on state regulation of public order and morals, and think people's business activity should be mostly left alone.
It's not really a recent trend or specific to the Christian Coalition variety of conservatives; a belief in the importance of a stable social order, and an avoidance of rapid change or rampant hedonism, is a pretty core part of conservative political thought going back centuries (Edmund Burke is a frequent point of reference).
My observations of who libertarians grit their teeth and vote for is that it depends on which kinds of government power bug them most. Are you most angry about taxes? Or about the war on drugs? About business regulations? Obscenity laws? Permits and fees? Sodomy laws? Etc.
This libertarian is pretty much reduced to only voting in "Hitler vs. Dukakis" elections (which, er, don't happen much, despite what the raving partisans say) and for or against particularly important propositions.
As much as each side tries to brand itself with various ideological sympathies, their actual politicians don't differ that much on most of the issues - and their supporters will excuse them endlessly and hector you about how the other guys don't even give you the wonderful lip service they practice.
I would say that a conservative wants to preserve the status quo, and a reactionary wants to return to a time period before the status quo with more limited government. Libertarians are reactionaries (this is not a slight on libertarians, just making it clear there is a distinction between people who like what we have now and people who want to roll back even what we have now).
There are a lot more conservatives than reactionaries, most of the tea party is talking about rolling back spending/government to right about the day President Obama was sworn in. They didn't suddenly become Libertarians.
The whole "left-right" single-spectrum metaphor, particularly the American reduction of it into a column A-or-column B mindset, is such a thought-killing meme.
"a conservative wants to preserve the status quo"
A fourth-grade textbook explanation, but one that has little connection to the ideology or to the political party most commonly deemed "conservative". What's status quo about wanting things like overturning Roe v Wade, constitutional amendments to stop gay marriage, stringent anti-immigration efforts, or invading the Middle East? Hell, what on Earth was status quo about 2001-2008?
"this is not a slight on libertarians, just making it clear there is a distinction between people who like what we have now and people who want to roll back even what we have now"
More making it clear that you don't know much about libertarians, or are only dimly aware of libertarians not wanting particular government programs you're fond of. What's "reactionary" about wanting to abandon the military imperialism of the last, oh, century or so? What's "reactionary" about open borders, or wanting to end the drug war, the war on terror, agriculture subsidies, and eminent domain abuse?
ETA: And how do anarcho-capitalists fit into this setup? :)
Bravo. Early in the GWOT, liberals attacked Bush for having a with us or against us attitude, or actually saying it. He wasn't nuanced at all. I see the same close-minded thinking coming from self-described liberals. Why can't we just talk about basic philosophy and not Team A vs. Team B? My original point was that conservatives should want legalization, or at least tolerate it, because they want to conserve limited government. It has nothing to do with republicans, democrats, libertarianism, etc. Conservatives were not favored in CA this election cycle. It's been the case since 1988. Liberals who want legalization can't simply blame conservatives for the banning of pot. They should call convvatives out on their supposed limited government, pro individual liberty ideals in order to convince them that legalization should be supported!
So once liberals get their wish list of policies, they will instantly turn into conservatives? You're being too literal. There's a big overlap between the tea party and libertarians. Both groups don't just want to roll back to Jan, 2009, they want to go back to 1900, when local governments had more power than the national government did, and people could vote with their feet.
Wow, why all the hate? Just stating my opinion. I loathe old time conservatives who want to control my life. At least respect the fact that most conservatives say they're for limited govt. They might be hypocrites once they get into power. cough Bush
