Via Hit & Run comes this pearl from Ronald Reagan:

If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism. I think conservatism is really a misnomer just as liberalism is a misnomer for the liberals-if we were back in the days of the Revolution, so-called conservatives today would be the Liberals and the liberals would be the Tories. The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom and this is a pretty general description also of what libertarianism is.

I honestly don't know anyone who calls themselves a conservative today who truly believes in small government.  They talk about their libertarian tendencies... and how they want small government... that is until you start talking about gambling, drugs, prostitution, marriage, religion, etc.  They just don't understand how their desired restriction on so many things create the government infrastructure and precedence to restrict all the other things that they don't want restricted.  As I've said time and time again, whether you call yourself a Liberal/Conservative or a Democrat/Republican... They both believe in controlling our lives through government... they would just force us to do different things.