I was wanting to say this before the last holiday time-out, so I'd better get it out before Christmas.
A fatal flaw with these plans to ditch social conservatism in favor of a socially-neutral, economics-only libertarianism (or whatever) is that it fails to take into account the "mainstream media," the education establishment, and the other machinery of left-wing indoctrination. Because the problem with the GOP is not their platform, or the social views of people like Romney or Todd Akin. The problem is that any challenger to the Democratic Party, whether GOP, Libertarian Party, or other, will be misrepresented, and their views demonized.
Look at how the "War on Women" began. George Stephanopoulos asked Mitt Romney, from the clear, blue sky, whether states could ban contraception.
1 Was there any indication, from any quarter, that Mitt Romney or the Republican Party were interested in banning contraception? Not that I'm aware. The left simply wished to make this an election issue. Next, they went on to the Catholic institutions, and continued to fabricate the myth that Republicans wanted to take away contraception.
Then, as soon as the election is over, GQ magazine interviews Marco Rubio. Now, you might think they'd want to ask him about his expected presidential bid, or about other issues relevant to the presidency of the United States. But they made sure to ask him how old the Earth is.
2 And it's not just two cases. It's a whole history of the last few decades, in which a short-lived "Southern Strategy" forever tars the Republican Party, but a hundred years of violence and intimidation of black Americans leaves no stain on the Democratic Party.
So it doesn't matter whether you rid the GOP of the social conservative "baggage," or create a new party from the ground up.
In neither case will the opposition party be in control of its image, or what its platform is perceived to be, or who it supposedly hates. That will be taken care of by left-wing image-makers who have demonstrated no scruples about smearing candidates (and parties) in the most blatant fashion. So your sex-positive, pro-choice libertarian party will be anti-woman, if it doesn't support the next Lilly Ledbetter Act, or want to force Catholic institutions to provide condoms.
It will be racist, if it doesn't support reparations, or isn't fully supportive of affirmative action.
It will be anti-gay, if it won't force bakeries to make cakes for homosexual weddings, etc.
1.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKWij_v4Twk2.
http://abcnews.go.com/ABC_Univision/Politics/marco-rubio-muses-gq-earths-age-hip-hop/story?id=17761631#.UM6NAJVtjcs