« It's Arrogance, I Tell Ya | Main | Random Acts of Blogging »

May 28, 2008

Comments

Stance

"which I care less about insofar as I am very forgiving (from a decent distance) when it comes to 'cultural injustices.'"

What cultural injustices are you willing to forgive?

cminmd

A liberal is a person who examines their conscious, their relationship to God, the interest of their family and the good of society- then decides how to live their life.
A conservative is a person who examines their conscious, their relationship to God, the interest of their family and the good of society- then decides how you should live your life.

Bill

Reagan said, "The basis of conservatism is a desire for [1] less government interference or [2] less centralized authority or [3] more individual freedom."

I think your discussion treats [1] and [3] as equivalent to [2]. I'm not persuaded that's the correct reading of Reagan's statement.

Numbers [1] and [3] are consistent with cultural libertarianism but not so much with political libertarianism (or cultural federalism), since political libertarianism (as I think you define it) tolerates very unlibertarian jurisdictions within the national mix.* Even [2] is consistent with cultural libertarianism, though it offers incomplete protection for it, protections likely endorsed by [1] and [3]. This suggests to me that Reagan was indeed talking about cultural libertarianism.

*I understand you to mean the same thing here by political libertarianism and cultural federalism.

tom hayden

trouble with libertarianism is that with govt becoming less, and populationn increasing, living closer together etc, more issues/conflicts arise. someone/thing will fill that vacume. will that filler be a democratic authority or a boss, money interest. what is at stake is democracy.

JB

cminmd, that would be true if you said "classical liberal".

"Liberal" in the American sense is someone who can't keep their hands out of my pants as they grab my wallet and take everything in the cause of assuaging their guilt. They can go fly a kite.

I can always buy social freedoms with money (look at drugs as one example). But what good are social freedoms if 90% of my income is stolen by the government?

So while I hate conservatives, I really hate liberals.

Jay

I wouldn't say that cultural libertarians say there are no rules, just that they aren't to be imposed by the state.

Libertarians would say that everyone has a right to express their opinions. For example, a libertarian wouldn't think that the government should outlaw sodomy, but he would also say that a conservative has a right to criticize the practice. Widespread criticism can act as as brake on activity, even if it's just at the margin.

A free evolution of how to be moral would operate under its own rules much as how the evolution of how best to provide goods services (the market) and how best to communicate (language) do.

JBC

"A liberal is a person who examines their conscious, their relationship to God, the interest of their family and the good of society- then decides how to live their life."

... and then decides how much of your money they want to gov't to take to support them in doing so.

The comments to this entry are closed.

My Photo

Masthead

  • Moral philosophy, political commentary, and elevated snark from a licensed technician. Further Details »

Miscellanies

  • Amazon Honor System Click Here to Pay Learn More
    Google
    Web PoMoCo
    Listed on BlogShares Technorati blog directory