A form of libertarianism that is not as statist as pure conservatism, but not as socially liberal as "pure" libertarianism. Like libertarians, conservative libertarians believe in a very small government, with only those services needed to protect the citzens from unjust force. They usually also believe in there being more power given to the states (so it can be loosely related to Confederatism). However, they also share many attributes of conservatives; most are pro-life, and against unchecked immigration. The gray area for conservative libertarianism is victimless crimes, such as drug possession and prostitution.

Conservative libertarians usually were either Republicans who thought the party was too statist, or Libertarians (note the capital L) who thought that the party consisted of pimps and potheads who only cared about legalizing drugs and prostitution.

An example of a conservative libertarian party in the U.S. is the Constitution party, whose presidential candidate for 2000 was Howard Phillips.


Note: Someone in the chatterbox said, "There certainly is a spectrum of libertarian opinion, but I think anyone for whom victimless crimes is a "gray area" is no kind of libertarian". In response to this, remember that lots of conservative libertarians used to be Republicans. Because of this, they often keep much of their conservative philosophy, including that relating to victimless crimes.