We’re now posting serially at thinkspot the transcripts of my Open College podcasts. Here’s the third: OC3:
Conservatives Are Not Free-market Capitalists [Open College transcript] Read More »
Audio links: iTunes Stitcher YouTube Topics: The “Dark” Ages or The “Brilliant” Ages? // Chronology // Was there a Dark Age? // Why did the activity pick up after the year 1000? // Roger Bacon and Thomas Aquinas // Why is the debate significant today? // The verdict on Christianity // The verdict on modernity and the Enlightenment // Why
Conservatives: Get Over the Dark Ages [Open College series] Read More »
After beating up on some “left” icons (here, here, and here, for example), it’s time to give some grief to the “right.” American political vocabulary tends to sort people into liberals on the left and conservatives on the right. All are big-tent labels, and we argue continuously about how to place libertarians, progressives, socialists, theocrats,
Conservatives against Free-market Capitalism [Good Life series] Read More »
Depois de bater em alguns ícones “da esquerda” (aqui, aqui, e aqui, por exemplo), é hora de castigar alguns “da direita”. O vocabulário político norte-americano tende a dividir as pessoas entre liberais¹ (na esquerda) e conservadores (na direita). Todas essas definições são generalizantes, e a grande questão é como classificar libertários, democratas, socialistas, teocratas e
Conservadores contra o capitalismo de livre mercado Read More »
[Following up on my “Do conservatives really value economic liberty?”, on the conservatisms of Newt Gingrich, Robert Bork, and Irving Kristol.] In The New York Times, moderate conservative David Brooks reflects upon Charles Murray’s Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010. Brooks agrees with Murray that Americans have divided into two polarized “tribes.” “The
Another anti-freedom conservative: David Brooks Read More »
Some do, sort of. But most of its major representatives do not. Another example is GOP hopeful Newt Gingrich. In his 1984 book, Window of Opportunity, Gingrich attacks laissez-faire and proposes what he calls “opportunity society conservatism”: “The opportunity society calls not for a laissez-faire society in which the economic world is a neutral jungle
More: Do conservatives really value economic liberty? Read More »
The question matters because many smart libertarians and conservatives, Bryan Caplan included, are wondering whether the two groups can overcome their differences, either for short-term coalitions on particular issues and elections or to create a longer-term movement. My view is that the philosophical differences between the two militate against long-term compatibility, though there are prospects
Do conservatives value economic liberty? Read More »