In one realm — economics — libertarians and Republicans both agree and disagree. The former are fiercely laissez-faire, to the point of opposing even minimum-wage laws: If Smith is willing to take a job at two bucks an hour, they say, why should anybody else try to stop him? But unlike a lot of pro-business Republicans, libertarians fiercely oppose any kind of corporate welfare — and some find right-to-work laws, which are an article of Republican faith, an affront to free-market economics because they infringe on the liberty of contract.

On the other hand, you won’t find any more fervent supporters of free enterprise and entrepreneurship than within libertarian ranks. As a group, libertarians are less religious than the public as a whole: 39 percent of them profess no faith, compared to 15 percent of the general public. But if the libertarian movement had a patron saint, it might be the small businessman or woman starting a new company — perhaps a marijuana dispensary — against the headwinds of government red tape.