Walter In Denver

where is the oxymoron?
libertarian is ultra-rightwing

So since when did supporting gay marriage, legalization of drugs, and keeping religion out of schools become right wing?

What Will said, (with some qualifiers), but in philosophic terms right-wingers generally believe government is the proper agent to enforce society's moral standards, libertarians do not. Right-wingers also tend more toward nationalism.

Those are pretty substantial differences.

Hey, I consider myself to be pretty right-leaning and I'm a proponent of gay marriage, legalization of drugs, and keeping religion out of schools (in a general sense, although we'd have to discuss specifics to find out if we actually agree on what precisely that means). A simple list of policy positions is rarely a good guide as to whether a person is a (to use the typical terms) conservative, liberal, libertarian, or what have you.

Walter's point--that a person's philosophy as to the proper place and function of government is what defines them more appropriately--is far more agreeable. If we were to discuss my views on what our gov't should and shouldn't be responsible for and involved in, there would be little doubt that I'm a Republican. If we just made a list of policies with up and down marks, the view would be more muddled.

In a way, I think that the focus on policy positions is precisely why people on the left and right tend to view libertarians as either left or right wing. The left would tend to want to demonize libertarians' views on things like taxation and social programs; the right would be more skeptical of things like (yes) drug policy and national defense.

The focus on policies just camouflages the fact that those beliefs are an outgrowth (often debatable even within the parties) of a more complete political philosophy.