Progressives Should be Conservatives (At Least on Some Things)

John Halpin at The Liberal Patriot points out that not all conservative ideas are bad.....indeed, some of them are pretty good and should be incorporated into a reasonable center-left outlook.'

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Part of developing a genuine liberal nationalism requires examining and absorbing good ideas from around the political spectrum that can help America succeed and uphold values of freedom, tolerance, and opportunity for all. In that spirit, here are some of the best ideas and concepts promoted by conservatives that should be considered in policy making. Next week, this exercise will be repeated examining the best ideas emanating from the economic left.

"Some of the best concepts from conservatives:

Subsidiarity and localism. Subsidiarity is a confusing term—used mostly in Catholic social teaching—that represents an important concept: policies and political issues are best handled at the local level and within natural social contexts such as families, neighborhoods, parishes, workplaces, etc. This notion of localism doesn’t preclude or replace universal policies and government social programs, nor does it give license to different sets of rules that might threaten individual rights. Rather, a commitment to subsidiarity and localism merely asks political and community leaders to design policies—such as infrastructure investments or anti-poverty programs or work training efforts—from the ground up rather than from the top down....

Tradition and common sense. Tradition and common sense are concepts often derided as covers for the status quo or biases that serve some people more than others. In some cases, this can be true. At the same time, tradition and common sense properly understood represent inherited wisdom, experiences, and norms that groups of people commit to collectively and refine over time to justify behaviors, laws, and customs."

Read the rest at The Liberal Patriot. And subscribe!

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What Conservatives Get Right About Politics

Localism, tradition, common sense, and a focus on unintended consequences in policy making are all good ideas for building a stronger country.