Libertarianism is the desire to have high levels of freedom, along with strict rule of law.
I'm going to express this more broadly and apply it to the Party itself:
A strict view of individualistic freedom is contrary to a collective group imposing structure to the benefit of the group. The strict individualism allows for secession even at an individual level but the collective group tries to agree on a structure through mutual consent such as majority voting. Mutual consent (or contract) is an important facet of group dynamics and to both allow it and promote that it has no term of enforcement is immature and impractical in the real world. Therefore, unless the Libertarian Party has a platform of meaningless platitudes, it can never be a big tent party because factions will always splinter off once specific policies are put into place in the platform.
I also find it hard to understand Libertarianism. We end up arguing against "straw man" versions.
But the Board is fortunate to have a genuine Libertarian. @ Jason — I hope you have the grace to set us straight. What are the practical steps that Libertarians would take if suddenly given control of the country? What are the specific differences between the Mises Caucus and the Non-Caucus (or whatever it's called)?
Please be specific. Repeal of the Civil Rights Act is certainly high on the Libertarian agenda: businesses will be to free to discriminate based on race, religion or anything else they choose. Do Libertarians embrace this openly? Or do they leave the return to segregation buried inside platitudes about "Liberty ... liberty ... freedom ... liberty"? Do Libertarians ever ponder the contradiction between an innkeeper's liberty to choose his customers and a hungry family's liberty to buy dinner?
Cannabis will be legalized. What about meth and heroin?
What will be used for money? I realize the Magic of the Market will choose among gold, bitcoin and whatever — during transition, customers will seek accommodations that accept their particular variety of cryptocurrency — but if any government persists and collects tariffs what will it accept as legal tender? The FedRes will be abolished, right?
"Right to work" will be the law of the land. Mandatory SocSec will be abolished, with workers having the liberty to plan their own pensions.
Will there be any way to regulate, tax or pay for pollution? Child vaccines for pertussis, etc. will no longer be mandated, right?
How do Libertarians feel about police? Some disciples of Ludwig von Mises imagine that police will be privatised or wither away altogether, while another (Rothbard?) gives police the right to torture suspects into confession. (If found innocent, the torturee will have the right to sue his torturers in Rothbard's utopia, but I'm not sure how he'll be acquitted given his confession under duress.)
Women have liberty over their own bodies, but what about their unborn fetus' body? Do Libertarians use the same 3rd trimester demarcation as Roe v Wade? Some Libertarians give parents total control of their children until age of majority; is this a common stance?
@ Jason — Thanks in advance for helping us understand modern American Libertarianism. Nobody wants to argue against straw men.