I am not sure sure that Conservative philosophy is classical liberalism. Just as Libertarians are judged by the views of Paul or Schiff, Conservatives have their own issues. I constantly read on this site how (if something happens that is “not fair”), there “oughta be a law.” Not exactly Classical Liberal thinking there. Many “conservatives” have also supported amnesty for illegals as well. I know there are also Libertarians who wrongly support amnesty too.
So, I guess the best way to tackle this issue is, what is modern conservatism? I also think that many Libertarians and Republicans are also “Progressives”, which we all know is not freedom based thought at all.
I am well aware of the thoughts of Adams, Jefferson, Hamilton, and Madison as I have read the Federalist Papers many times. A civil society or a free market cannot exist without morality. An immoral populace is not capable of self government. The Founders knew this. They knew that our inalienable rights were derived from God. But to them it did not matter if that God were Jewish, Christian or whomever, the principle was the same.
I also think that modern libertarianism has its own identity issue as well. Just 20 years ago, its identity was much different. Like the other political parties in this country, it has moved leftward.
I am not an isolationist myself. But MANY on this board are. I read comments all the time about how free trade is gonna do us in... constantly. Yet, I don’t think that people realize that to eliminate trade would be to play right into the hands of the statists and the unions. Who stands to gain the most with a closed market? Unions for sure as they will be shielded from labor and price competition.
We know the Founder’s stance on free trade, but that does not stop me from reading how it should be ended on this board. I want to qualify free trade here. It does NOT mean crony capitalism and unfair practices.
We all know that Dumocrats want to have a huge federal government with federal laws designed to address their perceived “inequalities”. I see many Conservatives who advocate the same thing. Except the laws would be based on their ideology and preferences. This is the problem that I have.
In every election I vote straight GOP. This is because I am a pragmatist and would rather not waste my vote on a candidate who has no chance of winning. However, I have never gotten to vote for a candidate who has views who are more than 75% or so close to mine (I was not old enough to vote for Reagan).
And it's not Conservative thinking either. Simply compulsive thinking unrestrained by principal.
Many “conservatives” have also supported amnesty for illegals as well.
Then they are not Conservatives. Just because they are on this board means nothing.
I guess the best way to tackle this issue is, what is modern conservatism?
At the core of this conversation is God. Does a person believe in a personal God or an impersonal God..? That is, do they have an individually based ontology or do they have a socially derived ontology..? Social ontology is the root of all liberal/progressive/totalitarian thinking. I know it's a big topic and I don't know if I could parse it adequately as there are many ways to be misunderstood but it is clear that our Founding Father's conception of Liberty was based on the individual making their own peace with their own God. After all, that's why we came over here in the first place.
If a person looks at society through this lens, it is clear, most of our laws and concepts of government in our lives is terribly off track to what our founders conceived and put in place for us to prosper by. I do not believe a person needs to defer to libertarianism. Our Founding Father's had it right to start with.