POLI 410 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Status Quo, Tory, Classical Liberalism
15 Jun 2018
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POLI410 Conservative Party and Ideology Lecture Notes
Hayek: Why I am not a conservative 1960
- Friedrich Hayek
o Austrian: spent most of his career in the UK and the US
- Key libertarian thinker
- One of the fiercest defenders of classical liberalism
- Wants conservative party to be the party of liberty
o The heart of concern over what conservatism had become in the 1960s, - it had
never been about defending liberty
- Believed by Thatcher and Reagan
- Big impact on conservative thinking in the 1980s
- Not happy to be serving conservative party – not because he is against them but
despises the factors about them
o Wants it to be about liberty instead
Hayeks Vie of Coseatis
- Opposition to drastic change
- Fondness for authority
- The opposite of liberalism (until the rise of socialism)
- The conservatism of early Canada
- Status quo orientation in the middle
o Ethos of conservatism as an attitude of opposition to drastic change
o Party of tradition and not change
- Socialism and conservatisms adopted collective roots
- Conservatives as ant-liberal in part because of their fondness for authority
- Conservatives feel safe and content
- Conservatives value authority, sense of elitism
o At the heart of it, desire for authoritarian figure to keep things orderly
- Shaped by toryism in the UK
Hayeks Citiue of Coseatis (progressive?)
1. It cannot offer an alternation
a. Slows down what is unwanted but does not signal another or better way
b. Why they at offe a platfo fo hage
c. Tend to get dragged along a path not of their choosing
d. Conservatism as reactionary to liberalism
e. Debate over conservatism and progressive politics as not being equal but as one
movement - progressive pushing and conservatives following
f. Hayeks does't at to just help apply the eaks
2. It is backwards looking
a. So focused on maintaining the status quo
b. MAGA
c. lacking innovation
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
d. fear of change and timid trust of the new
3. Misunderstands economics
a. fundamental misunderstanding of economic forces
b. protectionism misunderstood and are the wrong way forward
c. thinks globalization and free markets are the way forward
4. Have no defining principles
a. No guiding principles no how the party should be maintained or should move
forward
b. Stuck in the past
c. Not that they lack moral conviction
d. Lacks solid framework to work with those of values that differ from their own
e. Problematic that the conservative party recognizes just on superiors that should
lead – idea around patronage – there are leaders and followers
f. Guiding principles means that we can work with other we disagree with and
agree to tolerate what we dislike
g. Moral ideas are not objects of coercion
5. Fundamental problem: all of these traits make it very difficult to reconcile
conservatism with liberty
a.
What should conservatism be?
1. Should have a direction
a. Not about how far and fast we go but about what direction
b. Need to take up liberal ideas of tolerance
2. Change its economic orientation
a. Needs a more classical liberal attitude in its approach to economic matters
b. Needs to give up protectionism, especially I agriculture
3. Need to celebrate courage
a. Embrace courage and forward-looking, masculine concepts
b. Glamorizing and valorizing the key identities
4. Become democrats
a. More tolerant
b. Needs to develop a general tolerance of opposing views
c. Critical that limiting the scope of government (libertarian) is different that
limiting democracy
d. Little patience for conservatives – such as gerrymandering or Harper
approaching the GG
e. Conservative parties should not be disrupting democratic processes
5. Embrace change
a. Embrace new knowledge
b. Good to be suspicious o new forms of knowledge
c. Knowledge must themselves be rational
d. Criticizing the status quo element of conservatism
e. Theory of evolution - it happened and get over it, similarly with climate change
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Hayek: why i am not a conservative 1960. Friedrich hayek: austrian: spent most of his career in the uk and the us. One of the fiercest defenders of classical liberalism. Wants conservative party to be the party of liberty: the heart of concern over what conservatism had become in the 1960s, - it had never been about defending liberty. Big impact on conservative thinking in the 1980s. Not happy to be serving conservative party not because he is against them but despises the factors about them: wants it to be about liberty instead. The opposite of liberalism (until the rise of socialism) Status quo orientation in the middle: ethos of conservatism as an attitude of opposition to drastic change, party of tradition and not change. Conservatives as ant-liberal in part because of their fondness for authority. Conservatives value authority, sense of elitism: at the heart of it, desire for authoritarian figure to keep things orderly.
