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Saturday, May 6, 2017

Classical liberalism and conservatism: more compatible than we think

By DAN ROBINSON

Editor/Photographer

I had never been interested in politics - until last year's election, after which things have become very fascinating to follow. Throughout the many articles and commentator videos I've read and watched since then, I have learned a very encouraging fact: classical liberalism is far more compatible with conservatism - and even Christianity - than most of us realize.

A significant and increasing percentage of the Democratic Party in the USA (and the equivalent Labour Party in the UK) are jumping ship, as classical liberals who traditionally voted for these parties are now voting conservative. This is a major reason Trump won the US presidential election and the UK voted "Brexit" to leave the European Union. The cause for this is multifaceted, but can be boiled down to a revolt against the hyper-progressive, collectivist, corporatist, social justice phenomenons (labeled "regressive" by classical liberals) that have infected the Left. Classical liberals find these ideologies just as irrational and insufferable as conservatives do, and are voting Republican (and Tory in the UK) - not because they have become conservative, but because they find the Left's embracing of these "regressive" ideals simply unacceptable and therefore unsupportable. The unhinging of the Democratic and Labour Parties has been so severe that classical liberals find conservatism more tolerable by comparison, and are voting accordingly!

As a Christian (I do not identify as a Republican, by the way), there are parts of classical liberalism that are unresolvable with my worldview - namely issues like abortion, general atheism and personal morality. That really isn't going to be news to anyone. However, when it comes to public policy, classical liberals and Christians will find that we mostly agree on a surprisingly wide variety of issues: immigration, personal freedoms and responsibilities, national sovereignty, anti-globalism, anti-collectivism and anti-social justice, just to name a few.

This video by Dave Rubin, a liberal commentator, is a good summary of the state of the Left, why classical liberals are defecting, and offers a glimpse of how conservatives and even Christians have a lot more in common with classical liberals that the media and progressives lead us to believe. This video reveals that while Christians and classical liberals will never agree on many issues, they are not as hostile to each others' worldviews as it first may seem. As a Christian, I hope that this faction can reclaim influence in the Democratic Party in the USA, as it would mean the end of threats of any government interference in the living out of the principles of my faith, even if Democrats regain power and control.