Why Conservatives and Libertarians Need Each Other

[Michie]

Editor’s Note: If you are interested in the ongoing discussion between Conservative and Libertarian thinkers, we urge you to tune in to the live webcast debate, “The Challenge 2012: The Divided Conservative Mind.” This exciting debate will air TONIGHT ONLY, April 19, from 7 – 8 p.m. EST.

The debate—titled, “Can We Get Along? Libertarians & Compassionate Conservatives in 2012”—will feature Marvin Olasky (editor in chief of WORLD Magazine and author of “The Tragedy of American Compassion”) & Matt Kibbe (president and CEO of FreedomWorks and coauthor of the New York Times bestseller “Give Us Liberty: A Tea Party Manifesto”). You can find more information by following this link: <Center for Vision and Values - 2012 Conference - The Challenge> Don’t miss it!

One of the consequences of the GOP primaries and particularly Ron Paul’s candidacy has been to reignite the debate between self-styled conservatives and libertarians. Recently the Witherspoon Institute’s “Public Discourse” forum invited a conservative to critique libertarianism(Nathan Schleuter) and a libertarian to critique conservatism (Nikolai G. Wenzel). Without intending any disrespect to the forum or the authors, I have to say that I was rather disheartened by both papers. Neither seemed very willing to find points of substantive agreement, and both seemed to be engaged in a sort of tunnel vision regarding the merits of their own ideology as well as the alleged shortcomings of the other.

It is disheartening because of the time in which we live, a time in which conservatives and libertarians need each other in approximately the same way two people freezing in the night need each others warmth if they are going to survive to see the light of day. The few points of agreement that these authors pass over as if they were almost trivial – free markets, the importance of non-political social institutions such as the family, or the U.S. Constitution – ought to be rallying points for all who recognize the grave threat posed by the modern “progressive” state.

Continued- http://catholicexchange.com/why-conservatives-and-libertarians-need-each-other/