Can a Conservative Also be a Liberal?

People tend to think in terms of two choices: Black or white, Good or bad, True or false, and right wing or left wing. This is especially true in a democracy where every decision will eventually boil down to a yes/no decision. This creates the illusion that there are only two choices.

What Do Words Mean?

Every one has a slightly different idea what words mean. This is especially so when we talk of politically charged words like conservative and liberal. The definition of words can be especially slippery in politics. The leaders of unpopular political movements will choose names that make them sound like philosophies that are more popular. In the words of Sinclair Lewis, “When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross.”

In this article, I will try to stay to the traditional meanings of these words. I hope that the reader will avoid an argument over what the words mean.

Right and Left

Right and left in politics are opposites. The right supports the status quo. They would say, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. The left, in contrast, promotes change. They would say, “We can make the world a better place”. The terms date from the French Revolution when the supporters of the monarchy, the status quo at the time, sat on the right side of parliament.

Right and left political views are situational. In other words, whether a position is right or left will change as the status quo changes. The right will always support the status quo, but the status quo will not always be the same, so what is right will change.

The right will always be more cohesive than the left, because while there are many ways to “make the world a better place”, there is only one status quo.

What is a Conservative?

A political conservative is someone who favours the status quo, which is the same as the definition for right. The opposite of conservative would be to advocate change. Advocates of change are reformers or radicals.

Conservative positions, like the right wing positions, are situational and depend on the status quo. In a country with a laissez-faire economic system, conservatives will support free markets. In a county with a socialist economy, conservatives will support socialism. In a monarchy, conservatives will be monarchists. In a democracy, conservatives will be democrats.

What is a Liberal?

Some would say that a liberal is someone who believes in personal freedom and liberty, but who doesn’t? Joseph Stalin believed in personal freedom too, but only for himself.

The liberal ideal is a world where as many people as possible have as much freedom as possible. The opposite of a liberal society would be a totalitarian society, where only a small group of powerful people have freedom. Totalitarians are not completely opposed to freedom; they just don’t want to share it with others.

The difference between liberals and other political views are who gets what freedoms. When some people gain new freedoms, other people lose some of their freedoms. When Lincoln “freed” the slaves, he took away the freedom to own slaves. Most people today see this as a positive move, although at the time some people expressed their disagreement quite emphatically.

Unlike conservatism, liberalism is not situational. A liberal will remain a liberal no matter the situation. In a liberal democracy, a liberal will be a liberal. In a totalitarian police state, a liberal will still be a liberal. They may be a dead liberal in a police state, but a liberal none the less.

Liberalism is often associated with the left, but this is not a permanent alignment. In societies where some people do not have the same freedom as others; liberals will push for change, which puts them on the left. In a society that achieved the liberal idea of equal freedoms, liberals will no longer be on the left.

Is the Right Always right?

“We would like to live as we once lived, but history will not permit it.” – John F. Kennedy

The conflict between right and left will continue. The world changes and we must change with it, but not all the changes we could make are for the better. Society needs the interplay of right and left to move forward wisely. Sometimes the right will be correct and sometimes the left.