Anyone who remembers John Hood’s declaration that he’s a liberal democrat should know better than to throw around labels such as “liberal” and “conservative” without understanding the context in which the terms are used.
It’s interesting to read in the latest Newsweek why British Prime Minister David Cameron considers himself a “liberal conservative.”
Revealingly, Cameron defines his version in terms of foreign policy (though he could equally well reference the fact that he leads a Conservative-Liberal coalition): “You get the instincts of a conservative—skeptical and worried about grand plans to remake the world—but [you are] liberal in that you want to see the spread of democracy and rights and freedoms that we enjoy here.”
While it’s true that few American conservatives ever would endorse “grand plans to remake the world,” most have little skepticism or worry about pursuing significant challenges to the entrenched status quo: sclerotic New Deal-era government programs, an outdated and counterproductive tax code, regulations that have long outlived any usefulness they ever had.
And while it’s certainly true that “spreading democracy” is more closely associated with a liberal view, it’s precisely that idea that sparked derision within the American left for the highly publicized Bush-era neoconservatives.
So if someone tells you he’s liberal, conservative, or a liberal conservative, you’ll need more information before you know what that really means.
