The Conservative Future

Here's an interesting essay by Matthew Sinclair, who posits a viable future for the Anglo-American right, and helps explain its current rifts:

Differences over social policy are real and I'm not going to pretend otherwise. However, libertarians should reflect that one of the main objectives of a conservative social policy is to avoid dependency on the state. Equally, conservatives should acknowledge that changes in social attitudes are making the libertarian position more popular on a growing number of non-economic issues. If all this is accepted then the compromise might become less galling.

Alone the libertarian and conservative movements are chronically vulnerable to the paradoxes that can undermine their success. By accepting the compromises that come with working together, the alliance can achieve so much more.

I still believe that conservatism is a better long-term ally for libertarianism than liberalism. That's why I called my book, "The Conservative Soul." Sinclair also sees how this might be easier in Britain, where the Christianist movement barely exists:

Kieron O'Hara's book "After Blair" was recently published in a second edition thanks to the election of David Cameron and the adoption of nearly all the first edition's recommendations by the Conservative Party. His book sets Cameron's politics in perspective as part of a long conservative philosophical tradition of sceptical moderation handed down from old thinkers like Montaigne and Burke (Oakeshottian conservatism is probably the closest approximation of O'Hara's position in the American debate).

Montaigne, Burke, Oakeshott: the key triad.