I need folks to know that this isn't a real thing. Economic conservatism is fundamentally opposed to social liberalism. You can't reinforce capitalism and move wealth toward the wealthy while also pursuing social justice and equality - ThreadSky

steveboots.bsky.social • 9 days ago

I need folks to know that this isn't a real thing. Economic conservatism is fundamentally opposed to social liberalism. You can't reinforce capitalism and move wealth toward the wealthy while also pursuing social justice and equality

Reposted from Michael Bednarski 🇨🇦

Mark Carney is an economic conservative but also social liberal.

Comments

gillesprefontaine.bsky.social•9 days ago

I grew up in Alberta being told (and convinced) this was a thing: Progressive Conservatives. What wisdom has taught me is a better name would be Fair-weather Progressives: they will choose to cosplay as progressive until it becomes inconvenient for them. Number 1 cause of inconvenience: taxes.

verumaddicta.bsky.social•9 days ago

How would you describe someone who is economically conservative but supports pride and diversity initiatives? Conservatism is not a monolith and the distinction is important.

steveboots.bsky.social•9 days ago

A conservative. If you're economically conservative, you're conservative. You can't reinforce systems of exploitation and then wrap yourself in a rainbow flag and pretend to be the good guy

verumaddicta.bsky.social•9 days ago

So it’s not useful to differentiate between populist and other types of conservatives? I’m talking in more generally than just Mark Carney.

longhair.bsky.social•9 days ago

This is very well said.

boogerminer.bsky.social•9 days ago

The closest approximation is social policies being more cost effective than austerity. Eg: funding preventative healthcare is cheaper than reactive medicine.

Difficulty setting: most fiscal Conservatives don't actually care about balanced budgets, they want a plausible reason to discriminate.

boogerminer.bsky.social•9 days ago

Also, if your social policy guidelines are "nothing should fundamentally change" that's a conservative position by definition.

weggles.bsky.social•9 days ago

Socially liberal has gotta mean more than just "not bigoted".

sander001.bsky.social•9 days ago

And he's also borrowing huge amounts of money which is another way the rich get richer.

jwhite.bsky.social•9 days ago

I think people just mean a Conservative who doesn't hate gay people.

theowlseye.bsky.social•9 days ago

There's also this not so thinly-veiled statement here that state sanctioned violence against poor people and immigrants is somehow a morally justified form of bigotry. Like this is no better than homophobia, actually.

policymancer.bsky.social•9 days ago

Cant be socially liberal if you don't want to pay for it

maxp94.bsky.social•9 days ago

We don’t have any parties that are not reinforcing capitalism in some way

primad.bsky.social•9 days ago

I've said before that the Overton Window has shifted so far right that "fiscal conservatism/(kinda*)social liberalism" folks think that's the actual middle.

*the "kinda" is doing some real heavy lifting.

christoaivalis.bsky.social•8 days ago

You can't actually be 'socially progressive' if you are 'fiscally conservative'

You can't be socially progressive if your idea of racial justice is "I think rich Black people can pay to escape the consequence of white supremacy"

christoaivalis.bsky.social•8 days ago

Or "women who can afford abortions can have them"

alanstange.bsky.social•9 days ago

But the West has found a way to build mixed economies. I think the truth of your point is that the tension between free market and socialism never finds a balance. There is not much light between Liberal and Progressive Conservative ideologies. 🤔

natelacroix.com•9 days ago

True

chrisgoestoeleven.bsky.social•9 days ago

I've never seen anyone who claims to be a fiscal conservative support housing first and safe supply, which save money for society in the long run.

steveboots.bsky.social•9 days ago

Exactly as coherenr

voxcpw.bsky.social•9 days ago

The meaning of these terms has moved quite a lot over the years. Fiscally conservative and socially liberal was basically the first 30 years after WW2 certainly in the UK. Fiscal conservatism has moved towards the extremes with austerity and supply side nonsense. 1/2

voxcpw.bsky.social•9 days ago

In a similar but less dramatic shift, social liberalism has tended towards more classical full wealth equality redistribution, which can definitely be seen as a response to the large shifts of wealth away from the general populace, driven by the supply side BS.

voxcpw.bsky.social•9 days ago

To summarize, the two ideas did not seem historically to be in such great tension as they can seem to be today.

steveboots.bsky.social•9 days ago

*coherent. Give me my damn edit button, Bluesky

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