Modern European Meaning
In modern European discourse, "liberal conservatism" usually encompass right-of-centre political outlooks that reject some of the traditionalism associated with Christian democratic or tory politics. This position is sometimes associated with support for moderate forms of social safety net and of environmentalism. "Liberal conservatism" in this sense is for instance represented by Michael Portillo or the Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt of the Moderate Party, the Conservative Party of Norway, and the Finnish National Coalition Party. In an interview with journalist Andrew Marr, for BBC Television shortly after taking office as Prime Minister, David Cameron said that he had always described himself as a liberal conservative. In his first speech to the Conservative Party conference in 2006 he defined this as believing in individual freedom and human rights, but being sceptical of "grand schemes to remake the world".
Read more about this topic: Liberal Conservatism
Famous quotes containing the words modern, european and/or meaning:
“The whole imposing edifice of modern medicine is like the celebrated tower of Pisaslightly off balance.”
—Prince Charles (b. 1948)
“What is the first thing that savage tribes accept from Europeans nowadays? Brandy and Christianity, the European narcotics.And what is it that most rapidly leads to their destruction?The European narcotics.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (18441900)
“Experience has taught me that the shallowest of communist platitudes contains more of a hierarchy of meaning than contemporary bourgeois profundity.”
—Walter Benjamin (18921940)