Is it possible to be a conservative progressive?

[Tabula Rasa]

Or a liberal conservative? Not necessarily a moderate.

 

I think I'm something along these lines, but it's hard to put into words.

 

I can't be labeled!

[Guest]

The first progressives were originally conservatives who saw that there were problems that needed to be confronted. So i mean yes you can be both. We just need more rational thought in our politics rather than the petty squabbling we seem to have right now. ( Im looking at both parties😠)

[RoseGoesToYale]

I truly hate the words "liberal" and "conservative" because they get bandied about without context or applied as broad categories to much narrower political political views.

 

When "liberals" and "conservatives" scream at each other, they almost exclusively refer to each other's social policy. Socially liberal means people being free to do whatever they want in their personal/social lives, and the government enforcing that. Socially conservative means adhering to traditional social structures, institutions and values, and the government enforcing that. It is also possible to be liberal or conservative in economic policy (e.g. laissez-faire vs. strict governmental regulation of companies), foreign policy (e.g. staying out of other countries' affairs vs. intervening on behalf of maintaining a certain political order), and more. Most people's political beliefs tend to comprise a mixture of stances in these areas, rather than falling uniformly all in one place.

 

It's the United States' two-party system that engages in the reductionism of all those complex beliefs into "liberal vs conservative", which is a really bad equivocation of "Democrat vs Republican", forcing people to choose whether they are liberal or conservative when the reality is that political ideology does not work that way. (And it helps them both maintain sole power by giving people the illusion of choice in elections, when both parties and their nominees consistently fall into the authoritarian right on the political compass)

[ben8884]

in Canada untill around l 2002 we literally had a party called the Progressive Conservative Party. They were fiscally conservative-free trade low taxes and such but socially liberal-many were pro choice and pro same sex marriage. The party got taken over by their social conservative element and they dropped the progressive from their name but Progressive Conservatives still exist. 

[Aquatic Paradox]

I think Merkel is the definition of conservative progressive.

[uhtred]

There are many different unrelated issues, and its quite possible to have a conservative view on some, and liberal on others

[Cimmerian]

11 hours ago, Tabula Rasa said:

Or a liberal conservative? Not necessarily a moderate.

 

I think I'm something along these lines, but it's hard to put into words.

 

I can't be labeled!

Certainly! In fact, I'd argue that's probably more normal to have a mix of views and not fall into the moderate category (even if it doesn't seem that way on the internet!). Some people will call themselves variations of the words you've mentioned or will just pick a typical "side" but hold a mix of views.

 

I've sometimes joked that I can be too conservative for liberals and too liberal for some of the conservatives. A lot of people are a combination of things with many being mixes like: fiscally conservative and socially liberal, or fiscally liberal but socially conservative -- and most of those that I know would definitely not identify as or agree with many moderates. As Rose mentioned, variation by topic is probably the most common so seeing yourself as somewhere in between is definitely a thing!

 

[GingerRose]

On 8/3/2020 at 12:54 PM, Tabula Rasa said:

Or a liberal conservative? Not necessarily a moderate.

 

I think I'm something along these lines, but it's hard to put into words.

 

I can't be labeled!

Yes look up William Weld. I was going to vote for him in 2020.

 

[GingerRose]

Also yes because you can be socially liberal and fiscally conservative or visa versa.

[ben8884]

9 hours ago, CBC said:

That's federally, but the provincial party is still the Progressive Conservatives here in Ontario.

 

'Red Tories' is a term I've heard many times.

Except for Alberta I believe this is true. I also have heard of Red Tories  but am not sure how that works exactly.

[andreas1033]

I think the term would be centrist, ie meaning your neither side.

 

This typically means, you like things both sides do.

[Tabula Rasa]

Thanks for the replies.

 

I've decided I'm a political heretic. 😄

[ben8884]

8 minutes ago, CBC said:

Just a term for Tories who favour relatively progressive social policies but conservative fiscal ones, I believe.

That makes sense

[EmilyWritesSomeStuff]

You can lean towards being conservative or progressive without flat out being either one of those, but cannot be both. You can be neither as a moderate. I consider myself to be that as I have issues with both sides.

[Gatto]

  

On 4/22/2020 at 10:44 AM, Gatto said:

If we are liberal, what would we liberate?

If we are conservative, what would we conserve?

[Guest]

Why would anyone want to a progressive anything?