Friday, September 11, 2009

Libertarian or Conservative

I know what a Libertarian is . . . that's someone who believes that less government is better except for running services that benefit the greater good . . . . . like regulating water, air, highway systems, defense.

It’s a bit harder to define a conservative. Is it someone who atavistically just wants to conserve the existing order of things (either now, or perhaps as they perceived them 50, or 100, or 200, or however many years ago)? Or is a conservative someone who believes in limiting social freedoms (generally that means suppressing things like sex, drugs, outrĂ© clothing and customs, and bad- mouthing the government) while claiming to support economic freedoms (although with considerable caveats and exceptions)? It’s unclear to me what, if any, philosophical foundation conservatism, by whatever definition, rests on.

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