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| Source:FORA-TV- Reason Magazine's Senior Editor Brian Doherty, in Berkeley, California, talking about his book about conservatism and libertarianism. |
"Reason Magazine Senior Editor Brian Doherty discusses the differences between libertarianism and traditional conservative ideologies.
Brian Doherty considers "Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement."
This illuminating, lively history of a political movement on the rise - told through the life stories of its standard bearers - casts new light on the intellectual and political history of post-WWII America. Doherty traces the evolution of libertarianism through the unconventional stories of Ludwig von Mises, F.A. Hayek, Ayn Rand, Murray Rothbard, and Milton Friedman, and their personal battles, character flaws, love affairs, and historical events that altered its course. In so doing, he provides a fascinating new perspective on American history, from the New Deal through the culture wars of the 1060s to today's divisiveness.
In February, the Wall Street Journal noted, "With 'Radicals for Capitalism', Brian Doherty finally gives libertarianism its due...Mr. Doherty has rescued libertarianism from its own obscurity, eloquently capturing the appeal of the 'pure idea', its origins in great minds and the feistiness of its many current champions." - Cody's Books
Brian Doherty is a senior editor of Reason, the libertarian monthly named one of "The 50 Best Magazines" three out of the past four years by the Chicago Tribune. Established in 1968 and a four-time finalist for National Magazine Awards, Reason has a print circulation of 40,000 and won the 2005 Western Publications Association "MAGGIE" Award for best political magazine."
From FORA-TV
In this post I'm going to focus on the differences between classical conservatism, the Barry Goldwater's, Ron Reagan's, Bill Buckley's, and libertarianism, the Ron Paul's, Peter Schiff's of the world. Libertarianism and classical conservatism also being political ideology's based on individual freedom and the U.S. Constitution where they both believe which is were Americans get their freedom from. And that people essentially have the right to be stupid and let birds fly to chart their own course in life. And that they shouldn't get bailed out for their bad decisions either.
I got this idea for this post from a friend of mine on Facebook and they know who they are and I'm dedicating this post to that person.
First, what do Classical Conservatives the Rand Paul's of the world today have in common with Libertarians, the Peter Schiff's of the world today? Respect for the U.S. Constitution and individual freedom, the idea that our Founding Fathers (our Founding Liberals) who were made up of Conservatives and Liberals when they wrote the U.S. Constitution pretty much got most of it right when they wrote it.
Our Founding Fathers (our Founding Liberals) wrote one hell of a document and that constitutional amendments that have been written since improved the Constitution. But that it's a great document for anyone who believes in liberal democracy and that (excuse the expression) that we shouldn't dick around with it and try to limit people's freedom. Like constitutional amendments to ban homosexuals from getting married or taking the power away from the people to decide who we can for vote for to represent us in Congress.
Or big government law laws that are unconstitutional like the Patriot Act that violates the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution (as far as I'm concern) that what the Federal Government can do is already laid out for them in the U.S. Constitution and that Congress can't pass any law that they want even if it might be popular, if it violates the U.S. Constitution, which is what separates Classical Conservatives and Libertarians from Democratic Socialists.
Socialists who I believe see the U.S. Constitution as more of an advisory document than anything else and have a collectivist approach to politics rather than an individualist approach. And the Constitution is basically an individualist document centered around Individual Freedom (that locks Socialists out of it, perhaps intentionally) to begin with and this gets in the way of their politics.
The differences between classical conservatism and libertarianism has to do with the economy and foreign policy. Classical Conservatives prefer a private market (what they call a free market) and decentralization approach to our safety net opening up these social insurance programs to the private market. Giving the people a choice in how they consume these programs, Social Security and Medicare being perfect examples of this. And letting the states take over the rest of our social insurance programs: Welfare Insurance, Unemployment Insurance, and Medicaid being perfect examples of this.
Where Libertarians want government out of the economy all together and see all of these social insurance programs as unconstitutional.
When it comes to foreign policy, Classical Conservatives aren't Neoconservatives (obviously) and see our foreign policy as having to do with protecting our national interests around the world. And not getting involved with other countries conflicts like civil wars or promoting our form of government around the world either.
Where Libertarians tend to be isolationists on foreign policy and only want us to use military action when we are directly under attacked.
Classical conservatism and libertarianism are both similar political ideology's because they are both based on individual freedom and the U.S, Constitution. But they are also different in a sense because libertarianism is borderline anti-government and perhaps just a couple steps away from anarchism.
Where Classical Conservatives want government there to protect innocent people from the harm of others. So innocent people's freedom isn't compromised.
The main differences between Conservatives (lets say) and Libertarians, is that Conservatives aren't anti-government, just anti-big government. So they are against both socialism (democratic and otherwise) as well as religious fascism and fascism in general. Whereas Libertarians at least these days don't seem to have a role for government to do anything, really. At least at the Federal level.
