Over the last few years, I have gradually drifted away from identifying myself as a Republican and slowly found myself aligning more and more with libertarians. Note, however, that is small "l" libertarians, which must be differentiated from the big "L" party.
While I would love it if libertarians were able to muster the unity needed to build a viable third party, I just don't see it happening. For starters, too often those who talk about running as big "L" candidates seem like they are Republicans or Democrats who couldn't get nominated in their own party and needed someone else to boost them. But the biggest problem I see is the very philosophy of the little "l" folks - it just doesn't work for big party politics.
Let me explain. No, there is too much - let me sum up. One of the basic tenets of libertarian philosophy is individual freedom, keeping government out of as much as possible and allowing people the liberty to believe, do and say what they like. Obviously, there have to be limits, but they should be as open as possible to allow people maximum freedom without infringing on the freedoms of others.
But there's the rub. If your philosophy is built on letting everyone be and do what they want, how do you ever get a consensus about what your group should be supporting? People who subscribe to libertarianism tend to be individualists with very strongly held views - not much can dissuade them from their belief in the freedoms they hold dear. Personally, I think that's good thing, but it sure does make organizing hard.
Ever try to get even two Type-A personalities to reach an agreement on something they have opposing views on? Now imagine that on a nationwide scale, amongst thousands of people, no two of whom hold exactly the same view...
Let's just say I'm not going to hold my breath on the Libertarian Party posing a serious threat to the Republocrats anytime soon. I'll muddle along and try to support whatever candidate seems closest to my personal libertarian views.