Among the responses I received from yesterday’s NRO Symposium on the prospect of Democratic victory in 2008, were several questioning my use of the term “libertarian” to describe one of the key elements of the conservative electoral coalition. Some said I should use “economic conservative,” thus avoiding an ideological term that creates confusion because of the small party of the same name. Others questioned whether there is really a libertarian voter bloc to speak of. And then I got the usual lengthy diatribes and Ron Pauline epistles.

Well, I’ve worked for think tanks and think magazines for 20 years. I know the drill. I’ve tried out all the various political tags: libertarian, classical liberal, free-market, conservative. I know lots of Libertarians. I have friends and colleagues who serve or have served on Paul’s staff. Please spare me the history lessons and pedantry.

As a matter of political science, voters who are generally free-market on economic matters and tend to oppose governmental regulation of personal behavior (drugs, sex, gambling, etc.) are both present in significant numbers (probably around 15 percent of the American electorate) and most usefully referred to as libertarians. As David Boaz and his Cato Institute colleagues have shown, these voters have traditionally been strongly Republican in their voting behavior. True enough, excessive federal spending, privacy concerns, and the Iraq war were the probable explanations of a drop in libertarian support for Republicans in 2004 and 2006, but it’s important to keep the trend in perspective. Libertarians voted 59 percent for Bush in 2004, down from 72 percent in 2000. Libertarian voters chose GOP congressional candidates in 2006 by a 59-36 margin, a solid margin but way down from the overwhelming 47-point preference for GOP candidates in the last off-year vote, 2002.

Furthermore, as a matter of social behavior, I would observe that while there are some exceptions, most libertarian organizations are considered part of the broader conservative movement by both conservatives and libertarians. So I’ll stand by my nomenclature.