Brain Power

Comments in a conversation considering the contrast between Conservatism and Libertarianism.

You don't find THIS level of discussion on Democratic Underground!

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Stuart Koehl| 2.28.13 @ 7:44AM

Libertarianism is an ideology; conservatism is a "disposition". Libertarians live according to a set of abstract ideals (as do all ideologues) and build sandcastles in the air. Real conservatism, on the other hand, recognizes human society as a messy organic construct and are loathe to interfere with long-standing social institutions that have withstood the test of time. Libertarians trust to their own wisdom in all things, while conservatives defer to the wisdom of our ancestors. True conservatives do not mindlessly imitate the past, nor do they worship the past, but they recognize continuity with the past and are not willing to sever those connections in the name of an untested intellectual construct that does not take cognizance of the frailty of human nature.

C. Vernon Crisler | 2.28.13 @ 9:37AM

Can't say I agree with the idea of contrasting "abstract ideals" with concrete life. America was founded on abstract ideas as opposed to status quo traditionalism. However, the fathers would no doubt agree with Locke that one doesn't change things on the basis of light and transient causes, so they would also accept the value of continuity.
I think we have to distinguish among libertarians. Many libertarians are okay with public morality while others are little more than anarchists (cf. Lew Rockwell et al.). Mises would not have agreed with Rothbard's anarchism and even said Rothbard's mind had gone to pot on foreign policy issues. Hayek definitely would not have agreed with the Rothbard or Rockwell versions of libertarianism.
Lincoln spoke of the abstract truths of the Declaration. By that he meant the truths of the Declaration were universal, applicable to all for all time. In touting continuity, tradition, and concrete life, we should never forget that without abstract truths, ancestralism can often be the basis of much oppression, as Lincoln well knew.


http://spectator.org/archives/2013/02/28/are-libertarianspansies#commentcontainer


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I THOUGHT I was a libertarian. But I might be a Libertarian Conservative...

/Gunslinger