Liberals and conservatives

Liberals and Conservatives. When speaking of liberal in Europe, the classical liberal should be understood as a person or political party that values ​​individual freedom. Therefore, it supports freedom of choice that coincides with freedom of worship, speech, press, assembly, business and commerce and considers that the weight of the state in the economy should be limited.

While the Conservatives defend the thought of maintaining traditions. They prefer to maintain traditions and norms, religion, values ​​to defend social stability and collective values. I will describe the differences between the classical liberal and the conservative, but also the differences between the liberals and the conservatives.

Who are the Liberals:

The Liberal Classics have always held that the economic system based on private property is the only one consistent with individual freedom, allowing everyone to live their life as they see fit, both by choosing how to use their own resources and their own capital.

There is some difference between Liberal Classics and Liberal Progressives. Classical liberals tend to want to preserve natural rights as opposed to conservatives who tend to want to preserve rights acquired in certain historical moments, now obsolete compared to contemporary society. Unlike classical liberals, they do not respect the freedom of others.

The progressive liberals have a strong propensity to an active role of the state in the lives of people. They affirm the existence of some rights, defining them as positive (right to health, coercive norms towards others) established by the power of the state, while defining basic human rights as negative.

Progressive liberals see the state and not the market as the means by which society progresses. Unlike classical liberals, they are not respectful of the freedom of others.
The liberals are those who want a limited and concise presence of the state . The conservatives are those who want a state that is very present but divided into social classes.

Who are the Conservatives:

When we speak of Conservatives we refer to the person or political party that defends the value of tradition and historical experience against progressive and innovative ideologies, including any cultural phenomenon hostile to new or imported elements.

The conservatism is very heterogeneous , sometimes overlaps with the classical liberal in the economic sphere. Liberalism, unlike conservatism, does not want the introduction of the state into the private life of the citizen. Therefore, liberalism does not seek to maintain social definitions and roles that belong to the past or tradition, unlike conservatives, who wish to maintain a particular definition of marriage, the role of the sexes, etc.

Liberals and conservatives ideology

The liberalism is the expression of bourgeois interests and it is precisely for this reason that struggle to gain a foothold among the exponents of the working class, who prefer to embrace the socialist thought, closer to their needs.

The basis of the new theory is based on the “no impediment” of the state : it should not impose any restrictions and everything, especially in the economic field, must take place in a climate of absolute freedom, where regulatory competition arises spontaneously.

The liberalism or proposes the development of the country thanks to the independence of initiative, the abolition of censorship and the exaltation of tolerance, but finds its weakness in its formulation; in fact, it acts only at a theoretical level, without providing concrete guidelines on how to realize its ideas and bring progress and development to the country.

Socialist conception

The socialist conception is, on the other hand, the creed of the working masses, who see in it the possibility of improving their social status thanks to the concrete proposals of this current of thought. Eliminating social classes and leading a decent life have always been the ambitions of the lower classes and socialism is precisely the answer to their demands (just as liberalism is for bourgeois merchants); in fact, it protects the working classes with the intervention of the state and provides them with the concrete means to carry out development, with a state centralization contrary to the liberalist conception.

Church position

The position of the church is, at the beginning of the 19th century, in a position of its own. In fact, we find the majority of Catholics decidedly conservative, who support the “old” ideals of restoration. If it is really necessary to deploy the Church with the Liberists or with the Socialists, it could approach the former due to the ideological debate with the exponents (let me use the not-so-appropriate term) on the left.

However, it cannot be said, at least in the early years of the 19th century, that Catholics were liberalists; This was essentially due to the revolutionary movements that the liberal bourgeoisie had seen as protagonists.
Currently Liberals and Conservatives coexist in many countries, although there are many mergers in different political parties.