Nope, that’s what liberalism is. Americans (and Canadians) use “liberal” to refer to anyone left of center, but globally and historically liberalism refers to an ideology that promotes individual liberties, private property rights and free trade (anong other things) and posits that the sole purpose of government is to guarantee those things. This means that on the modern political spectrum, “pure” liberalism would be center-right, with varying amounts of leftwing influence spanning the spectrum from center-right to center-left. Canada’s Liberal Party definitely fits.
what you state means conservatism and liberalism are basically the same… I know they are in practice but they are supposed to be dif"erent in theory at least
The thing is that conservatism is just support for established power structures, meaning it changes with time and place, while liberalism is a specific ideology/strain of ideologies. For example conservatism in 19th century America would’ve been pro-slavery, not limited government. Meanwhile in France conservatism would’ve been monarchist, and in early 20th century Europe it would’ve been monarchist or fascist. Besides, even in modern politics conservatism implies positions on race, sexuality relations and religion (among others) that are pretty illiberal. It’s only economic policy that overlaps, which makes sense because economically liberalism is pro-capital owners, conservatism is pro-the rich and powerful and right now the rich and powerful are all capital owners.
Nope, that’s what liberalism is. Americans (and Canadians) use “liberal” to refer to anyone left of center, but globally and historically liberalism refers to an ideology that promotes individual liberties, private property rights and free trade (anong other things) and posits that the sole purpose of government is to guarantee those things. This means that on the modern political spectrum, “pure” liberalism would be center-right, with varying amounts of leftwing influence spanning the spectrum from center-right to center-left. Canada’s Liberal Party definitely fits.
what you state means conservatism and liberalism are basically the same… I know they are in practice but they are supposed to be dif"erent in theory at least
The thing is that conservatism is just support for established power structures, meaning it changes with time and place, while liberalism is a specific ideology/strain of ideologies. For example conservatism in 19th century America would’ve been pro-slavery, not limited government. Meanwhile in France conservatism would’ve been monarchist, and in early 20th century Europe it would’ve been monarchist or fascist. Besides, even in modern politics conservatism implies positions on race, sexuality relations and religion (among others) that are pretty illiberal. It’s only economic policy that overlaps, which makes sense because economically liberalism is pro-capital owners, conservatism is pro-the rich and powerful and right now the rich and powerful are all capital owners.