In America they tended to ally themselves with the Republican party, this has recently started to change however as the Republican party has been pushing too hard on the social issues as of late for their liking, on top of George Bush who pushed for government spying which is basically a burning of the cross in their eyes. Libertarians are typically a hybrid of Republicans monetary ideals with Democrat social ideals. But when it comes to the government affairs they are purely "liberal"
Now to understand that last sentence I have to explain something. America's labeling system is a bit off when it comes to 'liberal' or 'conservative' because many people use them interchangably for "Democrat" or "Republican", which is actual in practice not the case. A conservative respects authority while a liberal questions it and ensure there are checks in place and will speak out against it. "Don't tread on me" is very much a 'liberal' phrase in the sense that it tells people in power not to oppress or the 'check and balance' will be a snake bite.
From my experience Democrats are conservative toward the government when Democrats are in power and liberal when Republicans are in power. The opposite is true for Republicans.
It really is an interesting mess, but what does this have to do with Libratarianism? Well they are the exception to what I said above. They tend to be the group that will always question the government no matter which party is in power. So they are always "liberal" in that sense when it comes to the government affairs.
But to answer the original question is "Up" of center, while populism or statism is its polar opposite which is found "Down" of center. For more on the visual you'd have to see the Nolan Chart or any of its similar equivalents.
In America they tended to ally themselves with the Republican party, this has recently started to change however as the Republican party has been pushing too hard on the social issues as of late for their liking, on top of George Bush who pushed for government spying which is basically a burning of the cross in their eyes. Libertarians are typically a hybrid of Republicans monetary ideals with Democrat social ideals. But when it comes to the government affairs they are purely "liberal"
Now to understand that last sentence I have to explain something. America's labeling system is a bit off when it comes to 'liberal' or 'conservative' because many people use them interchangably for "Democrat" or "Republican", which is actual in practice not the case. A conservative respects authority while a liberal questions it and ensure there are checks in place and will speak out against it. "Don't tread on me" is very much a 'liberal' phrase in the sense that it tells people in power not to oppress or the 'check and balance' will be a snake bite.
From my experience Democrats are conservative toward the government when Democrats are in power and liberal when Republicans are in power. The opposite is true for Republicans.
It really is an interesting mess, but what does this have to do with Libratarianism? Well they are the exception to what I said above. They tend to be the group that will always question the government no matter which party is in power. So they are always "liberal" in that sense when it comes to the government affairs.
But to answer the original question is "Up" of center, while populism or statism is its polar opposite which is found "Down" of center. For more on the visual you'd have to see the Nolan Chart or any of its similar equivalents.