This article was first published by Business Brief on 23 July 2024
Suella Braverman, a conservative UK politician, recently blamed the Tory election catastrophe on the liberals within the Conservative Party.
In a 2019 UnHerd article, JD Vance, the US Republican vice presidential candidate, blamed libertarians for the troubles that beset America.
Notably, neither apportions any blame to their brand of conservatism.
JD Vance posits: “The question conservatives confront at this key moment is this: Whom do we serve?”
This question cuts to the heart of the difference between libertarians and conservatives. “Whom do we serve?” is the plaintive cry of serfs, of slaves, of the defeated. Libertarians ask, “What do I choose, to what do I consent, what are my limits?”
We do not serve, unless we choose to.
Conservatives value nation, state, community, duty, service, place, culture. Libertarians value the individual, consent, free markets, freedom of choice, of speech, of movement. Both conservatives and libertarians respect family, the rule of law, love, motherhood, and apple pie.
Our values define us, and our conflicts. If you must serve your community, you may not serve yourself. If duty defines your choice, then you have no choice. If others define your limits, then you are always limited by those others.
Communists sacrifice everyone to the state. Conservatives sacrifice everyone to the service of the community. Libertarians see no need for sacrifice. Their philosophy celebrates life and individual agency, rather than power and compliance.
Conservatives believe that individuals must be constrained by government laws to produce the “public goods” that they believe are necessary, and to prevent behaviours they dislike. They are willing to use politics and political power to accomplish those public goods, particularly if their tribe happens to wield that power. They believe in the greater good, that the ends justify the means, that some must die so that others may live.
Vance gives the example of a child who is addicted to opioids who lives in a poor neighbourhood with a dysfunctional family. He accuses libertarians of not being concerned about the public outcomes, so long as social goods are produced by free individual choices.
He says we can’t just blame consumer choice. We have to blame ourselves for not doing something to stop it.
By “ourselves” he means the state, politicians and the bureaucracy. He discounts private initiative and charity (despite private charity exceeding state interventions in the US).
He discounts the proven success of free markets in almost every human endeavour in resolving problems. He discounts the mountains of evidence that state interventions are almost always costly and ineffective; he is a politician, so he must be right.
Conservatives and liberals do not trust individuals to freely choose the best outcomes for themselves. They must be guided by their elders and betters, who just happen to be politicians.
Will mistakes be made? Sure. Will people die? Probably. Will some people profit disproportionately relative to others? Almost certainly.
But as every free market example demonstrates, the result is always better both economically and socially for individuals than any other.
