This is my first diary, so I apologize for how short it is. I just wanted to touch on a problem I've noticed amongst some of my friends, that I mentioned in a comment recently.
Follow me below the orange squiggly, please.
It seems that, for whatever reason, many younger people seem to be of the belief that somehow people like Ron Paul and Gary Johnson are the "liberal" or "progressive" alternative to president Obama. Back when the Republican primaries were still going on, I had many friends in multiple states who identified as "liberals" but were opposed to certain Obama policies such as the drone strikes. They seemed to feel that the best option was to vote for Ron Paul in the Republican primary, and if he won, vote for him in the general, as he was the truly "liberal" alternative. Many of these friends also said that if Romney or any of the other Republicans won the nomination, they would most likely vote for Obama.
Now that Paul is no longer in the race, these people seem to have coalesced around Gary Johnson. Despite my arguments to the contrary, they don't seem to understand that there is nothing liberal about libertarianism. I even suggested that if any liberals or progressives truly felt the need to vote third party, perhaps Rocky Anderson, if he is on the ballot in their states, may be the person to look into. The response to this was that clearly Gary Johnson is the right alternative, and is on the ballot in 48 states.
I try to point out the fallaciousness of this, not as a way of debating the merits of libertarianism (though I don't think there ARE any merits), but simply because I don't like the misinformation being put out there. However, no argument I make seems to work. "Ron Paul/Gary Johnson thinks issues like gay marriage and abortion should be decided by the states! OF COURSE he's liberal." The problem is, as I try to point out, this is not, actually, a liberal mindset. Still, the stubbornness persists.
I guess my question to my fellow kossacks is how, if possible, can I get these friends and acquaintances, who usually are quite rational people, to understand that libertarianism is NOT a liberal belief system? Or is there something more sinister at work here? Are libertarians trying to convince low-information voters that their policies are liberal when they're not?