"The conservative hijacking of libertarianism"

Go go go

I agree with the basic points of the article. Unless you are anti-war, for the legalisation of all drugs, gambling etc ('consentual' being the buzzword there), against having a huge prison population and a powerful/out of control police, and in opposition to the current economic setup (keyword 'central bank'), then don't call yourself a libertarian.

That said, you might call yourself paleoconservative, or even paleolibertarian, which I respect. True paleos are good people in my opinion.

If the thought of legalising drugs and prostitution seems bad (and you'd rather keep these industries underground where the state and criminals get the profits and all sorts of coercive things happen), then perhaps libertarianism isn't for you.

As for the 'left wing libertarians' or 'left wing anarchists', I believe they exist only to give libertarians and market anarchists a bad name - I don't see how the coercive nature of socialism can be compatible with a philosophy that ultimately rejects the initiation of force in all or as many circumstances as possible. It just doesn't seem libertarian to me.