That said, this sort of 'liberal conservatism' really only finds expression in opposition to radical authoritarianism, which is why, I think, it was relatively more prominent during WWII and the Cold War, when there were obvious right- and left-authoritarian models that attacked liberty.
I'd suggest you see a resurgence of this kind of 'liberal-conservatism' among what remains of the NeverTrumpers: both the Bulwark and Dispatch crowd, annoyed by the radicalism of the farther left, but also far more alarmed and angered by the authoritarian radicalism of MAGA.
one problem that I have with the 'Never-Trump'ers is that they have yet to repudiate the reactionary bigotry and conspiracy theories of the neo-Confederates, allowing what used to be the 'John Birch Society' to morph into MAGA
also there’s a sense in which all of the progressives now calling for a return to civic virtue espousing traditionally conservative positions: there is a correct standard of behavior, a proper way of doing things, that people must be held to for the good of the community.
this is a common joke among the liberal currents folks, recognizing the kind of irony of how more and more of us progressives start to sound like old-fashioned small-c civic conservatives because we're reacting to such open evil and moral degradation
After 2016, I observed: when reactionaries are ascendant, the progressives become conservatives, to preserve their gains.
like i legit know more than one progressive that's started going to church (UU or open liberal nondenom sects) this year, and not out of newfound religiosity
FWIW, as a European I feel the US-progressive debate about convervatism sorely lacks examples from beyond their own borders. No broad political movement is without sin, but many Republican sins are particularly American. E.g. for all her faults, Merkel's convervatism couldn't be less like MAGA.
I am not sure Merkle is a conservative in a german context anymore. And looking at the trajectory of german politics since her...nah, this works.
This seems true, though it’s sad they are so few. Short of a universally recognized disaster (which I’m not ruling out given gross incompetence) it’s hard to see how those guys can become the core of moral conservatism. Maybe best case is dems becoming big tent that dominates 55-60% of electorate?
i suppose that "l-c" idea manifests as people who identify as conservative but cannot be frightened into supporting illiberal forms of governance. [conjecture] US conservatives in the post-WW2 era were mostly pro-liberal, but applying neoliberalism to them for 40+ years made them mostly anti-liberal
I think the brainrot of Fox News needing to present a vision of the world that justified voting deep red even when GOP policies were not succeeding played a big role in it.
On some level, I think personalities are just naturally either excited by or worried by change and I don't think the slice of people in either group changes very much. A healthy politics is when the first group is excited by pro-freedom change and the latter group worried by anti-freedom change.
Yes, though the latter group will also naturally be scared by trying to right lacking Implementation of liberal values.
Right liberal conservatives are just Dems, now, Generally. We just don't have political language in this country for such a thing as in the US 'liberal' means something more specific as, until quite recently, all actors in US politics were politely assumed to be liberals in the classical sense.
Which itself was not true, as it's difficult to call a segregationist classically liberal, but whatevs.