Center For Independent Studies: Jacob T. Levy- 'Rationalism, Pluralism, and Hayek's History of Liberal Thought'

Source:Center For Independent Studies- Jacob T. Levy.

"The classical liberal economist F.A. Hayek frequently wrote on the history of liberal ideas, trying both to recover half-forgotten truths and to find the sources of what he viewed as pernicious intellectual errors. He believed that understanding past ideas was important for the correct diagnosis of contemporary ills, since those had so often come from theoretical and philosophical mistakes. He went so far as to propose naming what became the Mont Pelerin Society, the preeminent postwar grouping of free-market economists, the 'Acton-Tocqueville Society,' after two nineteenth century liberal political theorists whose writings on economics were cursory at best.

In this talk, Jacob T. Levy describes and assesses Hayek's history of liberal thought, suggesting that he correctly identified key issues in liberal constitutionalism but was too quick to jump from constitutional to economic questions. He wrote histories of rationalism and pluralism in liberal thought, but mistook them for histories of economic planning and free markets. Clarifying this can help us see the often-uneasy relationship between pluralism and markets, and to recognise trade-offs that classical liberal political economy sometimes has to make." 

From the Center For Independent Studies

If you are Liberal such as myself (not a Libertarian or Socialist) you are a believer in individual liberty and liberal democracy, which means people have the right to live their own lives as they see fit, again as long as they are not hurting anyone else with their freedom. 

Liberals aren't anti-government, we are anti-big government and pro-limited government and these things are different. Lay out what government should be doing based on what it's good at, does better than the private sector or something only government is capable of doing like national security, law enforcement, foreign affairs, and a few other things. And don't create a new government agency or raise new taxes just because you have a new idea for the public good, but weigh it to whether government should be doing that or not. Thats what limited government is about, its not about being anti-government, but pro-limited government. 

Liberals and Libertarians as well as Classical Conservatives all believe in individual liberty and maximize freedom. And we are anti-collectivism, but one difference being, that Liberals and Classical Conservatives believe that government should step in when individuals abuse innocent people with their liberty. To stop those actions and punish them. There are so-called Libertarians that don't even want government to do that. 

I have a lot of respect for libertarianism in the sense that they are anti-big government, but I have more respect for Libertarians who are anti-big government, but not anti-government and there's a difference there. But I don't see libertarianism as classical liberalism, but as a separate political ideology thats farther to the left of liberalism, not right because of how anti-government Libertarians tend to be.