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You are ignorant of where the word Liberal was first derived. Our Founding Fathers were all Liberals in the sense that they believed that liberty for the individual was paramount. Since then the collectivists have co-opted the word and now "Liberal" means totalitarian.

If republicans wish to win one day they might consider the skills needed to form a coalition. As long as they disparage and belittle those who don't think exactly as they do good luck with those close elections.

Both major parties are coalitions of diverse groups. Republicans play the part as well as the Democrats.

There are political bodies in our society who do not participate well in coalitions ~ and they tend not to win elections, but that's just them.

Something to think about ~ both major parties have wide fluctuations in vote totals. The Republicans have dropped as much as 26 million votes one election to another (2004 to 2006) and the Democrats have dropped as much as 30 million (2008 to 2010).

The combined votes of all the independent more ideologically driven "third parties" is a fraction of that!

Just one of the reasons serious analysists of political matters tend to discount third-party influence. For all practical purposes, both Democrats and Republicans can win elections simply by pulling in more of their own partisans ~ which is why they will continue to do business the way they have been doing it.

As I understand responses to my statement that it’s odd to think that libertarians would necessarily vote conservative, your post attempts to point out that “liberal” is a term which has had a change of meaning over the years, and that modern liberals have co-opted a word that previously had a positive meaning.

So, your argument is that “liberal” doesn’t mean what it used to mean.

I can only agree with that. It now means what it now means is where your argument leads, even though it doesn’t mean what it used to mean.

That basically has you arguing my case, that libertarian support of abortion, unnatural relationships, drugs, and isolationism is more akin to today’s understanding of “liberal”.

So, I reiterate my original point. It’s near-sighted to think that a libertarian necessarily cost the GOP anything. A libertarian would be just as likely to vote Obama, or Libertarian as they would Romney. So, it strikes me that it’s a wash. And I wouldn’t be surprised to discover that many of them voted for Obama more than for Romney.

I agree. The Republican party needs to stop criticizing, attacking, belitting, and taking party funds away from pro-lifers and social conservatives.