Conservative Libertarianism

Conservative libertarianism, also known as libertarian conservatism, is a political philosophy combining conservatism and libertarianism, representing the libertarian wing of conservatism and vice versa. Libertarian conservatism advocates full economic freedom and little governmental regulation of social life, mirroring classical liberalism and laissez-faire but with a more social conservative philosophy that emphasizes authority and duty.^[1]

Originating and developing in the United States, libertarian conservatism prioritizes freedom, promoting Free Expression, freedom of choice, capitalism and free market to achieve conservative ends and rejecting liberal social engineering.^[2]

Libertarian conservatism can also be understood as the promotion of civil society through conservative institutions and authorities - such as the family, country, religion and education - in a libertarian attempt to reduce state power.^[3]

Philosophy[edit]

In political science, the term libertarian conservatism refers to ideologies that combine the defense of economic principles such as Haavelmo's theorem, respect for contracts, and the defense of private property and the free market with traditionalism regarding the issues of self-help, freedom of choice in a liberal capitalist society with social principles such as the importance of religion and the value of traditional morality. For American author Margaret Randall, libertarian conservatism began as an expression of individualism and the demand for personal freedom.^[4][5][6][7]

The book Freedom and Virtue: The Conservative/Libertarian Debate by George W. Carey, describes "the tension between freedom and morality" as "the main fault line dividing the two philosophies."^[8]

Nelson Hultberg wrote that there is a "philosophical common ground" between libertarians and conservatives. According to Hultberg, "the true conservative movement was, from the beginning, a mixture of political libertarianism, cultural conservatism and non-interventionism bequeathed by the Founding Fathers." He stated that such libertarian conservatism was "hijacked" by neoconservatism "by the very enemies it was supposed to fight: fabians, New Deal advocates, welfarists, progressivists, globalists, interventionists, militarists nation builders, and all the rest of the collectivist genre who worked assiduously to destroy the Republic of the Founders' states."^[9]

The economist exponent of the Austrian school Thomas DiLorenzo wrote that conservative libertarian constitutionalists believe that the way to limit government is to apply the United States Constitution. However, DiLorenzo criticized them, writing, "The fatal flaw in the thinking of libertarian/conservative constitutionalists stems from their unawareness or willful ignorance of how the founders themselves believed the Constitution could be enforced: by the citizens of the free, independent and sovereign States, not by the federal judiciary." He wrote that the powers accrued to the federal government during the American War of Secession overturned the 1787 Constitution.^[10]

In the 1950s, Frank Meyer, a contributor to the National Review, called its combination of libertarianism and conservatism "fusionism".^[11][12]

In the 1990s Lew Rockwell, Murray Rothbard and others described their conservative libertarian views as "paleolibertarianism". They continued libertarian opposition to "all forms of government intervention - economic, cultural, social, international", but also advocated cultural conservatism in social thought and behavior. They opposed a licentious libertarianism that advocated "freedom from bourgeois morality and social authority." Rockwell later stated that he abandoned that self-description because people confused it with the paleoconservatism they rejected.^[13][14][15]

The Governor of California and future President of the USA Ronald Reagan appealed to American libertarians in a 1975 interview with Reason when he said, "I believe that the heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism."^[16]

Philosopher Edward Feser has pointed out that libertarianism does not require individuals to reject traditional conservative values. Libertarianism supports, in his view, the ideas of freedom, privacy and end of the War on Marijuana at the legal level without changing personal values.^[17]

The Polish party KORWiN and its leader Janusz Korwin-Mikke have been associated with ideas of conservative libertarianism and nationalism.^[18]

Economics[edit]

Libertarian conservatism subscribes to the libertarian idea of free market capitalism, advocating minimal or no government interference in the market. Many libertarian conservatives favor the economy and criticize the concept of legal tender. Conservative libertarians also support, where possible, the privatization of services traditionally run or provided by the government, from airports and air traffic control systems to toll boards and highways.^[19][20]

Conservative libertarian personalities[edit]

Friedrich von Hayek, Ludwig von Mises, Milton Friedman, Richard Posner, Walter E. Williams, Richard Epstein, Thomas Sowell, and Albert Jay Nock have been described as conservative libertarians. Former member of the U.S. Congress Ron Paul and his son, the Senator Rand Paul, have been described as personalities who combine conservative and libertarian ideas of small government and show how the U.S. Constitution would defend individual and more libertarian views.^[21][22][23]

References[edit]

1. ↑ Heywood, Andrew (2015). Key Concepts in Politics and International Relations:Palgrave Key Concepts. Macmillan International Higher Education. ISBN 978-1-1374-9477-1, pag. 37.
2. ↑ J. Richard Piper, Ideologies and Institutions: American Conservative and Liberal Governance Prescriptions Since 1933, Rowman & Littlefield, 1997, pp. 110–111, ISBN 0847684598.
3. ↑ https://mises.org/library/getting-libertarianism-right
4. ↑ http://archive.org/details/politicsintroduc0000john
5. ↑ http://archive.org/details/politicsintroduc0000john
6. ↑ Schlesinger, Arthur (Settembre 1933) [1° pub. 1933]. "Vol. 48". The Rise of the City: 1878-1898. The Academy of Political Science. pp. 454–456.
7. ↑ Randall, Margaret (January 14, 2018) [1st pub. 1995]. "Preface". Sandino's Daughters: Testimonies of Nicaraguan Women in Struggle. Rutgers University Press. pp. ii.
8. ↑ George W. Carey, Freedom & Virtue: The Conservative Libertarian Debate, Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 1998. ISBN 1-882926-19-6.
9. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20080820085956/http://www.afr.org/Hultberg/122006.html
10. ↑ https://www.lewrockwell.com/2004/07/thomas-dilorenzo/get-real/
11. ↑ https://www.lewrockwell.com/2001/12/edward-feser/what-libertarianism-isnt/
12. ↑ https://mises.org/library/libertarianism-amoral
13. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20180907144559/http://www.pericles.press/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Liberty_Magazine.pdf
14. ↑ https://www.lewrockwell.com/2007/05/lew-rockwell/do-you-consider-yourself-a-libertarian/
15. ↑ https://www.lewrockwell.com/2002/05/lew-rockwell/what-i-learned-from-paleoism/
16. ↑ http://reason.com/7507/int_reagan.shtml
17. ↑ https://www.lewrockwell.com/2001/12/edward-feser/what-libertarianism-isnt/
18. ↑ https://polandin.com/40319870/nationalists-and-conservative-libertarians-form-polexit-alliance
19. ↑ Heywood, Andrew (2015). Key Concepts in Politics and International Relations:Palgrave Key Concepts. Macmillan International Higher Education. ISBN 978-1-1374-9477-1, pag. 37.
20. ↑ J. Richard Piper, Ideologies and Institutions: American Conservative and Liberal Governance Prescriptions Since 1933, Rowman & Littlefield, 1997, pp. 110–111, ISBN 0847684598.
21. ↑ J. Richard Piper, Ideologies and Institutions: American Conservative and Liberal Governance Prescriptions Since 1933, Rowman & Littlefield, 1997, pp. 110–111, ISBN 0847684598.
22. ↑ https://mises.org/library/cultural-thought-ludwig-von-mises-0
23. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20071011224403/https://www.lewrockwell.com/orig8/mafaldo1.html

See also[edit]

• Libertarianism
• Conservatism
• Patriotism
• Nationalism
• Anti-Communism