RE: RE: The vanishing conservative

Steve - I take it that you're not a 'Conservative,' too?

While Vox makes some excellent points about the problems with conservatism as a political strategy, my reasons for saying that I don't consider myself a "Conservative" have more to do with my agreement with Hayek's argument. An argument could be made that Vox's musings are probably the result of a logical progression from Hayek. However, I think there are cases where conservatism (defined as the ideology of the American Right for the last fifty years) can become a less reactionary stance. There were elements of that during Reagan's term of office. It requires conservatism to be mixed with a very healthy dose of libertarianism, something that only happens effectively every once in a great while.

As well, given the co-opting of the term by people like Fred Barnes, Bill Kristol, and George Bush, I have no desire to be associated with what is generally referred to as neo-conservatism. That is nothing more than a path for the US to become the next Soviet Union. It makes little sense to wrestle with these characters over the meaning of a term that shifts every twenty years or so. As a result, I guess I'll stick with either classifying myself as a libertarian, or, more accurately, a classical, or eighteenth-century liberal.