Free Republic

Anti-capitalism — one prominent expression of a more general anti-liberalism — is where the radical Right and the radical Left meet. One of the political difficulties of conservatism — and here I mean American conservatism, not the imported kind — is that by its nature it does not offer much in the way of novelty, excitement, or even enthusiasm. It is a philosophy of least-bad options, necessary inconsistency, and moderate expectations. American conservatism is rooted in the values of the American Revolution and the American founding, which are largely liberal values in the classical sense, a source of some confusion...

Even as The Economist drifts further and further into progressivism and away from the liberalism of its founding, it still claims to be liberalism’s true, authentic voice. The Economist fashions itself a liberal magazine, in the original sense of the word. The weekly was founded in 1843 to argue against the corn laws, which discouraged food imports with tariffs and other restrictions and kept domestic food prices high. It chalked up the repeal of those laws only three years later to “a fearless reliance upon the truth and justice of a great principle”: liberalism.Today we usually call the intellectual descendants...

Fifty years separate us, now, from 1968 and the two momentous legacies of the then soon to ending failed presidency of Lyndon Johnson: The declaring of war on America’s supposed domestic ills in the form of the “Great Society” programs, and the aggressive military intervention in a real war in Vietnam. Both of these “wars” reflected the arrogance and hubris of the social engineer who believes that he has the power and ability to remake and direct society in his own preferred image. The Vietnam War still leaves a searing memory of a military conflict ten thousand miles away from...

I am reluctantly asking for opinons, because I believe this forum to be filled with some of the most intelligent and well read posters I have conversed with. I am hoping some will take a minute out and give me some advice on books or literature. I would like to learn more about the roots of classic liberalism, and conservatism. I have purchased several books on different ism's, but am really looking for a history of our political landscape (even going back farther than the classic liberal founding fathers if need be)from beginning to present. If you have an opinon...