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
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