... there is a longstanding tension between conservatives who are focused on limiting government power and conservatives who are focused on wielding government power. I would put it this way: some of us are focused on keeping government small, and we are not particularly concerned with who has power. Other conservatives are focused on having conservatives in power, and they are not particularly concerned with whether government is small.

To those of us in the libertarian camp, the "neocons" come across as corrupted by liberal statism. To those in the conservative camp, the "libertarians" come across as corrupted by liberal nihilism.

via Two Strains of Conservatism, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty.