Glenn Beck now favors gay marriage

[SPC]

I hate, hate, hate the obsession over the word "libertarian."  It's such a clusterf*&).

Unlike "conservative" you can't, in American discourse at least, refer to yourself as a "moderate Libertarian.  Everyone is OCD about the word.  Many of the youngin' Libs on this board seem terribly preoccupied in determining who can and cannot claim to be members of their club.  It really doesn't make all that much sense, considering that there are libertarian-leaning parts of the electorate that don't meet rigid binary definitions, let alone realize that the word "libertarian" may even apply to them.  Not to mention that among the hyper-political, the club is pretty diverse and nonsensical, ranging from Beck to Paul.

I wrote a thread about it a couple days ago but I deleted the thread before I posted it because I know that any discussion of the term would result in horrible awfulness.  And I don't want to interfere with people being trendy.

I suppose it had more to do with the fact that libertarianism is a strict ideology compared to liberalism and conservatism. Whereas the latter two ideologies want to use the state for their own purposes, the libertarians want to minimize the role of the state. To be a "moderate" libertarian is like calling someone a "moderate" atheist.

[SPC]

I hate, hate, hate the obsession over the word "libertarian."  It's such a clusterf*&).

Unlike "conservative" you can't, in American discourse at least, refer to yourself as a "moderate Libertarian.  Everyone is OCD about the word.  Many of the youngin' Libs on this board seem terribly preoccupied in determining who can and cannot claim to be members of their club.  It really doesn't make all that much sense, considering that there are libertarian-leaning parts of the electorate that don't meet rigid binary definitions, let alone realize that the word "libertarian" may even apply to them.  Not to mention that among the hyper-political, the club is pretty diverse and nonsensical, ranging from Beck to Paul.

I wrote a thread about it a couple days ago but I deleted the thread before I posted it because I know that any discussion of the term would result in horrible awfulness.  And I don't want to interfere with people being trendy.

I suppose it had more to do with the fact that libertarianism is a strict ideology compared to liberalism and conservatism. Whereas the latter two ideologies want to use the state for their own purposes, the libertarians want to minimize the role of the state. To be a "moderate" libertarian is like calling someone a "moderate" atheist.

See, that's exactly the problem.  You don't seem to understand that there is such a a thing as a moderate libertarian, which only require a libertarian who is pragmatic with political and institutional realities, not to mention socially liberal, economically conservative types, say, business owners on Wall Street, who don't subscribe to "the state=evil" ideology, but would certainly be libertarian on the 'ole matrix score

Instead, you take the binary view.  You have to be Libertarian 100%,  which you, and I'm not exaggerating here, compare to believing in God or not believing in God

No, I am comparing flavors of statism to believing in religion. That's an analogy. The problem with your "moderate libertarian" definition is that people who are as far from libertarian in attitude as physically possible (i.e. Rudy Giuliani, Michael Bloomberg, Bill Weld, Colin Powell, Nelson Rockefeller) get classified as "libertarian" under the "fiscally conservative, socially liberal" definition. By the way, when you speak of Wall Street business owners, are you exempting those that accepted government bailout money?

[SPC]

I call myself libertarian, and I'm pro-life. My libertarianism stems from my anti-death penalty, non-Muslim hating/ free religion, anti-excessive drug law, pro-homosexual marriage/ pro-homosexual rights, anti-mommy (welfare) and daddy (vigilance/ power of personality) state views. I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot of things. My pro-life stance is not based upon religion. The Pope has zero influence on whether I am pro-life or not, unless perhaps he would make an argument as individual and not the Pope.

To say I was conservative would be silly. If my views were mapped out on a grid (and they were more than enough times), I would be in the libertarian quadrant. So, I'm simply libertarian.

I wouldn't doubt that you are a libertarian, given that you are admittedly anti-statist.