Classical Liberalism

“In contrast to the progressivism in ascendency for more than a decade, Buckley celebrates a liberalism of empathy, benevolence, and kindness. ‘Today we wouldn’t say we need kindness….Justice has taken its place. But if kindness made us more liberal its abandonment has made us illiberal.” - Acton

“Self-styled ‘post-liberal’ conservatives see the American founding as the flawed product of the radical, secular Enlightenment. They argue that the American experiment in ordered liberty was already rotten the moment Jefferson put pen to paper in 1776.” - Acton

“liberalism in the tradition of Locke, Kant, and the Founders…. Its central philosophy is that all persons are born free and equal. Its operational principles include the rule of law, pluralism, toleration, minority rights, distributed authority, limited government, and (subject to the other requirements) democratic decision-making.” - Persuasion

“The former (speaker 1) wants a Protestant confessional state, and the other (speaker 2) is sympathetic to a Catholic integralist state…. We hope this conversation will be the first of many on the topic of liberalism versus post-liberalism.” - Juicy Ecumenism

“For decades, the dividing line between left and right was economic in nature; conservatives wanted tax cuts, deregulation, and a smaller federal government….The divide now concerns the ‘open’ versus ‘closed’ societies where moral and ideational issues are more determinant of a person’s vote than tax cuts and spending.” - L&L

“it is illuminating to compare the United States and Canada, which share a continent and have their origin in America’s revolution 250 years ago. One accepted what may plausibly be called [classical] liberalism and the other rejected it. Hence, with many caveats, they can provide useful points of comparison, and give a cautionary tale.” - Providence

“Classical liberals have assumed that the natural family and the values surrounding it would prevail ‘in a condition of liberty.’ Yet the radical changes in marriage and the family ‘have all been done in the name of liberty.’ Social conservatism however ‘requires language that goes well beyond that of individual liberty.’” - Juicy Ecumenism

“Far from the author of rabid secularism or deconstructive individualism, Locke, influenced by Shaftesbury, was an agent of ordered liberty. He … articulated an alternative statecraft defending and expanding English freedoms in politics and religion.” - Providence

On the push and pull between ‘humans as made in the image of God and humans still trapped in sin.’ - David French

“…the questions of politics must focus on how much liberty a society can tolerate before it starts to break down. This is a very old debate, of course. But it’s not a conversation that many critics of ‘liberalism’ seem very interested in having.” - John Ehrett