Steven Horwitz wrote:
>John Medaille wrote:
>>
>>Hayek (and Mises), on the other hand, were 
>>proto-neo-conservatives: they combined an 
>>extreme form of economic liberalism with a rather rigid social conservatism.
>
>
>Could we get some textual support for this claim 
>John?  I see nowhere in either author's work 
>that would suggest that they would use the law 
>to enforce their own beliefs about the 
>importance of particular moral rules.  (I assume 
>that is what is meant by a "rigid social 
>conservatism" and the link to 
>neo-conservatism.)  Both Hayek and Mises refused 
>to call themselves conservatives and their 
>generally classical liberal view of a limited 
>state saw little to no role for it in regulating 
>conduct that did not harm others (think Mill here).
>For example, here's Hayek in Law, Legislation, and Liberty v. 2 (p. 57):


I don't think there is much of a dispute in 
characterizing the major Austrians as socially 
conservative and economically liberal. You are 
addressing an entirely different issue, namely 
the issue of what the law ought to do in regards 
to that conservatism. It is only in recent years, 
with the political alliance with Christian 
fundamentalists, that the neo-conservatives are 
willing to push a social agenda, or at least 
willing to pay lip service to such an agenda. But 
if you take, for example, a founding document of 
modern neo-conservatism, such as Michael Novak's 
"The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism," you find 
exactly the opposite attitude. "The system of 
democratic capitalism cannot in principle be a 
Christian system???.it cannot even be presumed to 
be, in an obligatory way, suffused with Christian 
values and purposes." (351) Indeed, far from 
enforcing a Christian order, Novak claims that 
democratic capitalism must allow for "the 
flourishing of every vice" (350). And this is a 
sentiment repeated over and over again. On 
specific issues, abortion for example, "no one is 
likely ever to be satisfied with the law, but all 
might be well advised not to demand in law all 
that their own conscience commands."  (351)

You can interpret the political posturing as you 
wish, but the fact of the matter is that nearly 
all of the neo-conservative sages self-identify 
as followers of Mises and Hayek.

John C. Medaille