Although conservatives, like me, fight against socialism, the enemy of my enemy is not my friend. Conservatives and classical liberals are philosophically miles apart.
Standing resolutely in opposition to socialism and government interference in the economy, as I do, I am often branded as a conservative.
Just because conservatives also oppose socialism, however, does not mean that my political views are the same as theirs.
The political spectrum does not lend itself to a simplistic left-to-right analysis. At the very least, one should distinguish between economic and social views.
The typical left-leaning liberal in the United States, where (unfortunately) we get much of our popular political analysis, believes that government should play a key role in restraining the excesses of capitalism, but that government ought to stay out of our social affairs.
Conversely, the typical right-leaning conservative in the United States believes that government has little role to play in the economy, but that it ought to legislate social norms and values.
Both sides are often hypocritical and inconsistent in their positions. Left-liberals are quick to ask government to censor free speech, for example. Right-conservatives are quick to call for protectionist tariffs and curbs on immigration.
Although these two positions dominate politics in the United States, they are not the only political positions available to rational people.
Useful axis
A more useful axis along which to analyse political views runs between collectivism and authoritarianism on one end, and individual freedom on the other. Along this axis, one finds fascism and communism close together on the authoritarian end of the scale, while on the other end are people who believe both in economic liberty and social liberalism.
The latter are often referred to as classical liberals (to distinguish them from modern American left-liberals, also called social liberals).
Classical liberalism analyses society in terms of its individual members, and not as consisting of groups of people. It does not believe membership in any given group – be it ethnic, national, race, language, culture, gender, religion, or some other group identity – should grant any special privileges or protection.
This positions classical liberalism in opposition to the collectivism of ideologies such as communism, socialism, nationalism, and fascism.
It also, however, distinguishes classical liberalism from conservatism, which might not seem quite as obvious.
On the surface, they may appear similar, but that is only if you think of classical liberalism as being concerned chiefly with free market capitalism.
Individual human rights
Classical liberalism was advocating for individual human rights such as the right not to be enslaved and the right not to have religious morals imposed by law, long before it started to advocate for free markets.
John Locke was seized with limited, representative government, basic human rights, civil liberties, and the protection of rights and freedoms under the rule of law.
Voltaire wrote in favour of freedom of speech, the abolition of slavery, freedom of religion, and separation of church and state.
These and other great Enlightenment thinkers, who founded the classical liberal tradition, predated the publication of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, which added property rights and free economic activity to the natural rights of individuals and ushered in the era of capitalism.
The core principle of classical liberalism is individualism, and not free market capitalism. Free markets merely follow from the individual rights and liberties that everyone ought to enjoy.
By contrast, conservatives are not individualists. Conservatism arose as a reaction to the rapid political and economic changes brought about by Enlightenment ideas and fear of the revolutions they spawned in France and the United States.
Conservative thinkers such as Edmund Burke preached that the governing structures of society were placed over humanity by God, whose laws constitute ‘natural law’, and whose will society should not resist.
Conservatives value tradition, culture, and heritage. People are not by nature good, according to conservatives, and can therefore not be trusted with individual freedom. Instead, their imperfection makes them dependent on a coherent society, needing cultural roots, a sense of belonging and wise guidance by paternalistic authority figures.
Conservatives do not believe in unqualified and absolute natural rights, as classical liberals do. In their philosophy, rights are limited, are subject to the greater good of society, and are dependent on the performance of commensurate responsibilities.
Hierarchical authority
They preach not liberty, but deference to the hierarchical authority and established institutions of society. They defend not individualism, but conformity to what they believe to be ‘civilised’ norms and standards.
Classical liberals do not reject government outright. They advocate for a government whose purpose is to protect the lives, liberty, and property of citizens. The most important – and indeed only – duty of government is to protect the individual’s inherent natural rights from being violated by others.
Because conservatives do not believe in individual liberty, they often end up being hostile to immigrants, hostile to other races, hostile to people with non-traditional sexual mores, hostile to people with non-conformist lifestyles, and hostile to those who fail to ‘assimilate’ to traditional social values.
This is why conservatives are so pathologically obsessed with homosexuals, transgenderism, libertines, hedonists, immigrants, and atheists.
It is none of their business, but conservatives believe that society is threatened by the beliefs and choices of people who do not share their culture, tradition and moral values.
They are threatened by the social change represented by others.
Classical liberals, by contrast, hold that everyone has the freedom to believe what they want, and live their lives however they desire, provided they do not violate the same rights of others.
This is also why conservatives are not unqualified believers in free markets. They will gladly restrict markets and economic choices if they believe this is necessary to protect their own businesses or to protect society against alleged moral evils.
Conservatives favour economic protectionism even though it contradicts individual liberty and free markets. Conservatives claim to abhor social welfare but will gladly vote for corporate welfare.
Authoritarian
At heart, conservatism is authoritarian. However, they cast it, whether it is insisting on imposing religious morals upon society, or insisting upon ‘traditional family values’, or seeking cultural hegemony, their guiding philosophy is not one of individual liberty.
One should not be confused by the conservative’s resistance to authoritarian socialist governments. This opposition is not grounded in a belief in individual liberty, but in the belief that socialism upsets the traditional order.
Conservatism has certainly been influenced and moderated by classical liberal ideas. Recall, for example, British prime minister Margaret Thatcher’s belief that society does not exist but is a product of the individual actions of people who are self-reliant and self-seeking. That is a very liberal position.
Most conservatives also support free markets to some degree, although they generally oppose government interventions only when they benefit others and not themselves.
Yet despite appearances, conservatives are fundamentally illiberal, believing that individuals ought to subject themselves to traditional societal values such as duty, respect for authority and submission to religious mores.
Classical liberalism is a philosophy of freedom and individualism. It opposes authoritarian, collectivist ideologies such as communism, socialism, fascism, nationalism, racism, and, indeed, conservatism.
My belief in individual rights and freedom is why I am not a conservative, but a classical liberal. This is why I actively oppose conservatism, just as I oppose socialism.
The views of the writer are not necessarily the views of the Daily Friend or the IRR
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