Wealth & Poverty Review Should Libertarians Be Conservatives?
Over the last few weeks, Public Discourse has been running a terrific series on libertarianism and conservatism. The connection between moral and social issues and economic issues is a running thread in Indivisible, so I’ve been following the series closely.
My own contribution to the series ran last week. I argue that the strong philosophical distinction between conservatism and libertarianism is largely confined to wonks and intellectuals, whereas ordinary conservative legislators and voters tend not to see any contradiction between, say, free trade and the pro-life cause. But what should conservatives say to the “everyman libertarian” who thinks that the pro-life and pro-marriage causes violate the conservative commitment to limited government and individual rights?
I argue that we can make the case for protecting unborn life and conjugal marriage on the basis of limited government and individual rights, without recourse to any narrowly religious assumptions. Read the whole thing here.