Freedom & Virtue: The Conservative Libertarian Debate (Hardcover)

~ George W. Carey (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A helpful primer to the fundamental rift among right-wing intellectuals in the United States. Which is more important: personal liberty or society's maintenance of a transcendent moral order? During much of the cold war, libertarians and conservatives kept their differences hidden. When they came out in the open, it was often understood that mutual opposition to communism and the growth of the welfare state forced them to make common cause. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the slowed growth of big government, however, the two camps are now regularly at each other's throats. This split represents an important difference in political philosophy, and Carey's wisely chosen articles nicely lay out the debate in terms all can understand. --John J. Miller

Review

"In recent years...a new debate has broken out within conservative ranks, pitting traditional 'moral conservatives' against a new group of 'libertarian conservatives'. This is primarily an intellectual debate within a small group of writers and scholars.... Nevertheless, political philosophy-unlike poetry, according to Auden-does make things happen, and this slim volume does give one the flavor of a debate that remains largely beneath the surface of American politics." -- TLS, June 19, 1998

What do conservatives and libertarians have in common? They both oppose socialism, the destruction of property rights, and the growth of the welfare state. What separates them? Nearly everything else. While the two sides of the American Right have serious differences, they aren't often spelled out. Usually so much time is spent in joint efforts to unseat the Left that political novices often confuse them. Good thing this revised edition to Freedom and Virtue: The Conservative/Libertarian Debate (The Intercollegiate Studies Institute) is now available. It brings together top names from both sides: Russell Kirk, L. Brent Bozell Sr., Robert Nisbet, Richard Weaver, Murray Rothbard, and John Hospers.

In this book, editor George W. Carey gives the reader a snapshot of the early 1960s, when the coalition of libertarians and conservatives was forged into the Goldwater movement. Both sides supported a limited government and hated the Soviet Union, but for different reasons.

...For those who want an introduction to the debate, this is a good place to start. The rare sight of both sides critiquing each other can be eye-opening. -- World, November 28, 1998

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 231 pages
• Publisher: Intercollegiate Studies Institute (March 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1882926196
• ISBN-13: 978-1882926190
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #998,746 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Primer on the Conservative/Libertarian Debate, November 25, 1999

By A Customer

Most of the material covered in this book was written several decades ago when conservatives were in the process of identifying their philosophy in order to present a positive agenda for America. This is not to say that the material is outdated or irrelevant - far from it. In fact, anyone wishing to understand and appreciate the modern social conservative vs. libertarian conservative debate can do no better than to examine the earliest writings, when the debate first raged. This book provides a sample of those earliest writings and provides good bibliographic resources for furthering one's knowledge of this historical debate. It is a must-read for conservatives interested in the philosophical discussions of their ideological predecessors.

13 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Freedom and Virtue: Antagonistic poles or vital compliments?, August 21, 2004

By	Ryan Setliff "InternetPundit.com" (VA, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

~Freedom and Virtue: The Conservative and Libertarian Debate~ is an interesting anthology of articles chronicling the similarities and dissimilarities between conservatives and libertarians. The debate observably establishes the common ground that libertarians and conservatives share: first, both parties are agreed that the greatest threat to liberty is the increasing centralization and concentration of powers amongst governmental authority; second, both generally recognize the vitality of free-markets and the benefits of minimal government intervention in the economy; third, both maintain a common opposition to modern statist liberalism for a myriad of reasons. Georgetown political science guru George Carey has assembled an anthology of writings from various voices: liberals such M.M. Auerbach; libertarians like Murray Rothbard and Tibor Machen; secular humanists like Paul Kurtz; and conservatives like John East, Russell Kirk, M. Stanton Evans and Richard Weaver.

A proponent of fusionism, Frank Meyer has long maintained that libertarianism and conservatism exist together in a broad theoretical unity, and a synthesis should be strived for. I used to fall for this incongruous idea of fusionism, but now I see the unfeasibility of it all, and as such I have grown past the intemperate libertarianism of my youth. It has to be ironic, but I got this book a few years ago, hoping to buoy the case for fusionist libertarian-conservative ideology in my mind. However, I gradually came to be perceptive of the unworkable contradictions within such a fanciful amalgamated ideology. I have since eschewed libertarianism altogether and ideology as well, and fell squarely into the classical conservative camp. As Russell Kirk says, anyone who thinks seriously about politics gradually falls away from libertarianism and "conservatism is the negation of ideology." Still I have a great deal of respect for many right-libertarian thinkers (usually those of the old school deemed paleolibertarian.) I have a great deal of common ground with them. But what results from a libertarian-conservative debate are serious questions (and sometimes answers) about political philosophy. Is there a transcendent moral order? What should be the role of tradition, reason, and religion in civil society? When does liberty become license? What of the elusive search for absolute freedom? Finally, are "freedom" and "virtue" antagonistic polar opposites or vital compliments? How is the balancing act between freedom and virtue to be achieved in a healthy, vibrant civil society?

How do freedom and virtue fit into the ordered liberty equation? I think freedom and virtue are complementary and not necessarily antithetical. One most avoid the elusive search for absolute freedom. Many libertarian ideologues are typically naïve heirs of the Enlightenment-Romanticist in a search for absolute freedom. History demonstrates societies that strive for absolute freedom often do so with the effect of trampling virtue under foot and destroying freedom in the process. Conservatism recognizes the vitality of freedom and virtue in the public and private arena. Libertarianism declares virtue to be a private affair of the heart and rejects coercion towards virtue. Some radical libertarians even grovvel about the stigmatism of church, family and community. Conservatism sees that freedom and virtue are requisite and not necessarily antagonist towards one another; libertarianism that neglects virtue is often scarcely discernable from libertinism.

Altogether, this is a fairly good read and recommended for students of political science, newcomers to libertarianism, and right-wing devotees in general. For the reviewer, who stated "libertarians are not conservatives," I'd like to second his motion, and add that interloper neoconservatives are not conservatives either.

5.0 out of 5 stars Intellectually stimulating, January 4, 2009

By	J. Davis (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I throughly enjoyed this book, which a collection of essays debating the merits of conservatives vs. libertarians. Many of the contributors, it should be pointed out, believe in some sort of "fusion" between the two camps. All of the contributors are highly intelligent. I especially liked Russell Kirk's essay criticizing libertarianism, and Murray Rothbard's essay defending it. I highly recommend Freedom and Virtue.