Why would conservative and libertarian be considered the same thing?

[Mr Khan]

sc94597 said:

killerzX said:

not going to happen, the party's platform moves further from libertarianism and gets more more statist every election cycle.

i can forsee the the republican party perhaps fracturing, or splitting. we are starting to see that already. We have the establisment republicans that are progressive/ big governments-lite, and then you have the tea party types and the libertarian wings of the party. the latter groups or genuinelly for limited constituional government, the former part of the republican party as different from the democratic party as many people think. the last 4 years there has sort of been a clash within the republican party, of where its member want it to go.

but as for libertarianism gaining ground within the democratic party. not a chance, there's a greater probability of a 3rd party playing a major part in a presidential election than the DNC getting libertarians

The two-party system doesn't allow for splits. Just shifts in paradigms. This election cycle has shown a more libertarian Republican house, and with some work we can have a libertarian Republican senate. After the Bush era, and the failure of Obama's "promises" there has been a shift among the general public toward libertarianism of some extent (at least 1/3rd of the U.S population according to polls.) As for the democratic party, once the republican establishment falls (which it is currently) so will it's twin the the democratic party. You'll see more influence from both left-wing libertarians and with the common interests right-wing libertarians. Overall we'll she a shift toward the right (smaller government) because it's necessary for the left-winged libertarians to reach their goals. 

I think instead that we're going to have a Populist/Progressive split, similar to the turn or so of the 20th century, where the social conservatives are going to ally with Big Labor, we'll see a split in the African American community, and libertarians will have certain planks prominently positioned on both sides (though both sides will still have stuff libertarians hate, their issues will move up in the pecking order).