Quick intro.....

[scottpgreen]

I am a London based, 30-something PhD student, writing on Politics, Current Affairs and International Relations from a classical liberal perspective.

 

[JBeukema]

What are you getting your PHD in?

 

[Toro]

Welcome to the board from a quasi-classical liberal who once lived in London and considered getting a Ph.D. but was too lazy to do so.

 

[Darkwind]

I am a London based, 30-something PhD student, writing on Politics, Current Affairs and International Relations from a classical liberal perspective.

I'll be interested in reading some of what you write. If for no other reason then to see if you and I share the same definition of 'classical liberal'.

 

[eots]

I am a London based, 30-something PhD student, writing on Politics, Current Affairs and International Relations from a classical liberal perspective.

writing from the perspective of classic liberal ?...that sounds rather narrow and limiting

 

[Darkwind]

I am a London based, 30-something PhD student, writing on Politics, Current Affairs and International Relations from a classical liberal perspective.

writing from the perspective of classic liberal ?...that sounds rather narrow and limiting

Facts and the truth usually are. Now if he would have said progressive politics, why the amount of fiction is infinite.

 

[Foxfyre]

I define myself as more classical liberal than anything else, and I would also appreciate knowing if your definition of classical liberal is similar to mine.

To the member who described 'classical liberal' as sounding rather narrow and limiting, in my opinion it is anything but that.

 

[Big Black Dog]

Hello scottpgreen - Welcome to the playground. Even though you called yourself a liberal, you're still welcome here... If you get that PhD, please come to America and try to get our political house in order here. I think we can use any kind of help we can get. Actually, I'm beginning to wonder if I shouldn't leave the colonies, return to England, say I'm sorry and beg for forgiveness. Would the Queen take me back? It's been a long time since that nasty stuff in 1776.

Is the Brahma Tea and Coffee Museum opened back up for business yet? They were remodeling until the summer of 2009. I want to order some more tea for my wife from there.

I'm rambling. Again, welcome. Take your hat off and sit a spell. Tell us what's on your mind.

 

[Foxfyre]

Hello scottpgreen - Welcome to the playground. Even though you called yourself a liberal,

Well no, he didn't exactly call himself anything--he only expressed where his emphasis was in his studies.

But Classical Liberal is not 'liberal' in any sense as most Americans define liberal.

 

[scottpgreen]

Hey guys, thanks for the responses.....

I guess there's a conservative tilt to this board then, lol!

Not to worry. By 'classical' liberal I mean classical English liberalism. It combines a robust empiricism with a jealous regard for freedom, a healthy scepticism, and a deep and abiding suspicion of the state.

It is rooted in the centuries old tradition of English liberty, but its modern formulation begins with the Whigs. And so that is the tradition I come out of. The one that gave us modern, limited government and checks on the power of the state. I'm what you might call a nineteenth century liberal in the John Stuart Mill tradition.

It's much closer to your founding tradition than what you understand by the term 'liberal' today.

 

[GHook93]

I am a London based, 30-something PhD student, writing on Politics, Current Affairs and International Relations from a classical liberal perspective.

I assume you get the National Healthcare living out there in London! Care to explain what you think of it? Care to let us know how long you want? Or whether its as bad as the Republicans denounce it as being? Or as good as the liberals believe it is? As a person who has experienced both the US and the UK healthcare system please share your beliefs!

Please inform.

 

[xsited1]

Hey guys, thanks for the responses.....

I guess there's a conservative tilt to this board then, lol!

Not to worry. By 'classical' liberal I mean classical English liberalism. It combines a robust empiricism with a jealous regard for freedom, a healthy scepticism, and a deep and abiding suspicion of the state.

It is rooted in the centuries old tradition of English liberty, but its modern formulation begins with the Whigs. And so that is the tradition I come out of. The one that gave us modern, limited government and checks on the power of the state. I'm what you might call a nineteenth century liberal in the John Stuart Mill tradition.

It's much closer to your founding tradition than what you understand by the term 'liberal' today.

Sounds great. London-based? Considering your beliefs, wouldn't you be considered an enemy of the State?

 

[Foxfyre]

Hey guys, thanks for the responses.....

I guess there's a conservative tilt to this board then, lol!

Not to worry. By 'classical' liberal I mean classical English liberalism. It combines a robust empiricism with a jealous regard for freedom, a healthy scepticism, and a deep and abiding suspicion of the state.

It is rooted in the centuries old tradition of English liberty, but its modern formulation begins with the Whigs. And so that is the tradition I come out of. The one that gave us modern, limited government and checks on the power of the state. I'm what you might call a nineteenth century liberal in the John Stuart Mill tradition.

It's much closer to your founding tradition than what you understand by the term 'liberal' today.

You and I are most likely in agreement then on the definition of 'classical liberal'. I have wondered if there would be any interest in discussing the concept. Here's one I adapted from Wiki but uses mostly their language:

Modern American Conservatism/Classical Liberalism
(adapted from Wiki)

Modern American Conservatism (MAC)/Classical liberalism (also known as traditional liberalism[1], laissez-faire liberalism[2], and market liberalism[3] or, outside the United States and Britain, sometimes simply liberalism is a doctrine stressing individual freedom, free markets, and limited government. This includes the importance of human rationality, individual property rights, natural rights, the protection of civil liberties, individual freedom from restraint, equality under the law, constitutional limitation of government, free markets, and a gold standard to place fiscal constraints on government as exemplified in the writings of John Locke, Adam Smith, David Hume, David Ricardo, Voltaire, Montesquieu and others.

As such, it is the fusion of economic liberalism with political liberalism of the late 18th and 19th centuries. The "normative core" of MAC/classical liberalism is the idea that laissez-faire economics will bring about a spontaneous order or invisible hand that benefits the society, though it does not necessarily oppose the state's provision of some basic public goods with what constitutes public goods being seen as very limited. The qualification classical was applied retroactively to distinguish it from more recent, 20th-century conceptions of liberalism and its related movements, such as social liberalism MACs promote strong national defense and necessary regulation to prevent the citiziens/states from doing violence to each other, but are otherwise suspicious of all but the most minimal government necessary to perform its Constitutional mandates and object to most of a federal welfare state.

Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek, and Milton Friedman, are credited with influencing a revival of classical liberalism in the twentieth century after it fell out of favor beginning in the late nineteenth century and much of the twentieth century. In relation to economic issues, this revival is sometimes referred to, mainly by its opponents, as "neoliberalism". The German "ordoliberalism" has a whole different meaning, since the likes of Alexander Rüstow and Wilhelm Rööpke have advocated a more interventionist state, as opposed to laissez-faire liberals. Classical liberalism has many aspects in common with modern libertarianism, with the terms being used almost interchangeably by those who support limited government.