"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." - Ronald Reagan
I'm glad to see this quote. It's what I keep trying to tell my friends...we have to discard the label "Conservative". It gives a completely wrong impression to those who don't already know what we mean by it.
It communicates boring conformism to those who are not intimately familiar with the "nuances" of political labels. It conjures up uptight, sour "church-ladies", gray-suited pod-people, dead-eyed humans without flare or style or creativity or humor.
If that's not a description of Marxist Intellectuals and Progressive Statists....I've never heard one.
But it sure doesn't fit any of the risk-taking, crazy, innovative, hilarious, eccentric individualists I know...
The Gunslinger
P.S. Here's another smart RR quote: "Don't be afraid to see what you see." And I'd like to add: "Don't be afraid to SAY what you see!" - the Gunslinger
Reagan quote from "Reason" mag interview 1975...alright! As for label...that's why I began pronouncing it "con-ser-VAT-ive". I had to give up reading "Coming of the Third Reich" becuse the author tied himself in knots in describing left and right wing groups in the Weimar Republic.Those old definitions no longer apply,it's an out-dated paradigm from the French Revolution f'chrissakes. These tags are based on false premises,which those who claim the "Left" have controlled for far too long. THAT'S why so much of this political schtick comes off like bad vaudeville.
ReplyDeleteI still like Classical Liberal - gets a double take from all three sides of the aisle... very rare for someone not to ask "W...what do you mean by that?"
ReplyDeleteAlso has the added benefit of being true.