This is my submission for the 2009 Chris R.

Tame Memorial Prize

Can a Libertarian also be a Conservative?

Anders Mikkelsen
amikkelsen@yahoo.com

A Libertarian is one who believes that Liberty is the highest political principle.
Liberty creates order and allows society to flourish. Peace and Property are
inextricably linked to Liberty. Libertarians are distinguished by having and applying
consistent political principles.

So can a Libertarian also be a conservative?

We may as well ask “Can a Libertarian also be an Englishman?” Conservative’s are

usually recognizably conservative, yet don’t necessarily stand for any one thing in
particular. It is unclear that conservatives agree on consistent political principles.
The word conservative is a basket into which one throws multiple vaguely related
concepts. This makes it is entirely possible for a libertarian to be a conservative.

What is a Conservative?

There are multiple definitions of conservative. Most people envisage conservatives

as supporters of the status quo and tradition. This makes conservatism relative and
unprincipled. Being conservative all depends on what the status quo is and what the
tradition is.

Commonly Conservatives can be categorized as

Statists

Militarists

Supporters of today’s authority and institutions

Supporters of waning or overthrown authority and institutions

Believers in current and waning social traditions

Supporters of Throne and Altar

Believers in law and order and private property

 Supporters of personal liberties

Social Darwinists

Paternalists

Free Traders

Protectionists

Communists in communist regimes.

Naturally this is not an exhaustive list. Some of these categories are mutually
exclusive and some can be combined.

When libertarians look at the history of the west they see that a truly free society is
a radical concept. Yet the history of the west shows continual resistance to the
statist order. Since Western and especially English traditions and status quo
institutions have a wide streak of statism as well as support for liberty, and private
property, etc. it is possible for supporters of liberty to feel they are either supporters
of a long tradition and the status quo opposed to those dangerous radicals the
statists, or are in fact the dangerous radicals opposed to the statist status quo.
Libertarians believe that properly defined law and order and private property are
bound up in the principles of liberty. Since conservatives ostensibly support law and
order and private property it is no surprise libertarians are considered conservative.

Libertarians believe in freely developed social institutions. Libertarianism is bound

to respect a variety of social institutions and traditions. As long as it is subservient
to the principles of liberty, the tradition or institution may stand. This makes
libertarianism a permanent revolution as Lord Acton noted, as well as conserving
voluntarily arrangements such as corporations, churches, universities and other
schools, charities, and families. Many of us live our lives day to day among
voluntary arrangements, however distorted by taxes and regulations. We lucky
enough to be living largely in peace have a good sense of the radical world of
liberty, it is “Same, Same, but Different.”

Libertarians natural affinities are to those who care about the rights of everyone.
Libertarians are bound to respect the rights of the irreligious, uncharitable,
pornographic, dirty, free-thinkers, libertine, puritan, atheists, rich, poor, and those
who discriminate. Libertarians natural allies are those people conservative, liberal,
or radical who agree we all must respect the rights of everyone, including those
who are different from ourselves and our values and way of life.