When Ron Paul addressed the John Birch Society in 2008 http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/usnews/constitution/409, it was to raise funds for his presidential run. IMHO, his association with JBS was politically unwise because of its associations with unsavory elements of conservatism.
As for the present-day political posture of these groups, they have made commendable efforts to distance themselves from conspiracy mongering and racial/religious baiting, but I don't think you'll find in their ranks conservatives who recognize the need for opposing drugs, Islam, pornography, or the enemies of our allies, nor the need for supporting equality, just measures, the Natural Right of the unborn, and the Natural Law that distinguishes the sexes.
Libertarians and Birchers see the role of government as ONLY getting out the way. You won't find among them much emphasis on the first sentence of the Declaration of Independence as the presupposition for everything that defines America, and over which we fought a Civil War. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Nor will you find much enthusiasm for Reagan's "Time to Choose" speech which eloquently outlines the philosophy of the Republican party from the time of Lincoln to the present day.
I am critical of libertarianism and objectivism as extremist views of both American and Christian liberty. Moreover, I am disturbed by the continued efforts of these groups to hijack the Republican Party platform. They falsely claim to be the source of today's GOP energy, the Tea Party Movement. In fact, the "Tea Party" is the descendant of Republican reforms that began in the Goldwater campaign of 1964. It comprises not only fiscal responsibility and self-reliance but also moral responsibility and attention to both national sovereignty and international alliances against the forces of external enemies.
Libertarians, Objectivists and Birchers of course criticize us for being "neo-conservative." http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1075556/neoconservatism It's a cheap shot. The un-modified "conservative" is a term that the Republican Party is entitled to. The same goes for "constitutionalist". We shouldn't have to share these terms with other groups, but they (especially libertarians) force it upon us. We can still be confident that we alone possess the heritage of our nation's founders, that the foundation of our Constitution is the self-evident Truth that God created the essential Rights of man and the Law by which he should live, that a rational and successful society demands more than the pursuit of self-interest under laws established by mens' mutual consent. The foundation of the Republican party is something that libertarians will never understand, that we are "one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
