How to Revive Liberalism in an Age of Conformity | Parallax Views with Lord Frost

[@patrickvernon2749]

lets not. lets have an autarchy that restrains the oligarchy instead for once

[@brianoxley7276]

A fascinating interview

[@louislemar796]

I was a big fan of Lord Frosts, he appeared to be one of the few people left in politics who was arguing for classically liberal ideals, at least in terms of economic policy. However, having listen to this discussion and hearing his defence of a “national identity” which may encompass some form of religious identity, i am very troubled. He wants to have his cake and eat it too. He wants individual economic freedom on the one hand, but a national collectivism on the other. Which is why in the long term collectivism will win over the Tory party, they cannot challenge the underlying premise in collectivism that the individual is an end in himself and the government is a means to protecting his values. Lord Frost is too willing to compromise with the social conservatives who view the individual as part of some group identity, which will only progress to some form of national identity because the alternative is balkanised domestic tribal conflict which no one wants. The solution, as Hitler, Mussolini and the other nationalists discovered, is to try and unify the nation under a single group identity.

[@wh5254]

There is a fundamental difference between national identity, which is a fact that grows out of a real sense of belonging, and a collective identity pushed on you from the state. The important distinction is the one between state and civil society, something that is inherent in the Common Law principle. As Roger Scruton argues, the nation state identity is what enables us to accept that the other side wins an election and that those belonging to other religions are my fellow countrymen. It is a real identity that the left wishes to eradicate in order to enforce a class or other group "identity" that results in "identity politics", which is the opposite of a small state but with people united by a sense of real, shared national identity. Read also Burke on how liberty came about (hint: tradition, not abstract principles).