The Libertarian Party in the United States is composed of various factions, sometimes described as "left" and "right." Many libertarians reject use of these terms describe the political philosophy. A broad coalition of Classical Liberals, Minarchists and Anarcho-Capitalists founded the Libertarian Party. Many other smaller factions have existed but did not have any major impact in the party.
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In 1974 the larger minarchist and smaller anarcho-capitalist factions made the Libertarian National Convention in Dallas made the "Dallas Accord". It is an implicit agreement to compromise between factions by adopting a platform that explicitly did not say whether it was desirable for the state to exist. Over the years anarchists did continue to debate and clash with minarchists in the party. The anarchist faction has seen an upswing with the re-formalization of the LPRadicals.
When Ron Paul sought the 1988 Libertarian Party nomination for president, many saw him as too conservative and supported American Indian activist Russell Means to run against him. Nevertheless, Paul won the nomination and ran a libertarian presidential campaign.
After the campaign Paul supporters like Murray Rothbard and Lew Rockwell labeled themselves paleolibertarians because of their culturally conservative views. However, they soon left the party and later abandoned the term.
Many conservatives have left the Republicans to join the party. After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks some such conservatives initially supported the war in Afghanistan and the Iraq war.
Over the years the number of anarchists in the party dropped by about half.. During the 2006 Libertarian National Convention delegates deleted a large portion of the very detailed platform. They added the phrase "Government exists to protect the rights of every individual including life, liberty and property." Some took this as meaning the Dallas Accord was dead. Many anarchists in the party left and started the Boston tea party. Six years later it disbanded.