Why are libertarians associated with the right?

[Beet]

I think the bigger question is, "why is the right moving away from economic libertarianism?" Because it's being discredited. The tea party was the last gasp. It's a losing ideology and they know it. So they've latched onto purely cultural warriorism now, hoping to replicate the social wedges between the races that have worked well for the far right in Europe, here in America. If they can turn American politics into whites vs. minorities (and other marginalized), it gives them an advantage for at least another generation (at which point they can morph again). Democracy ensures that creating a cleavage where the majority are, by definition, on your side, provides a structural advantage. The right wing is morphing for the sake of its own survival.