• ZombiFrancis@sh.itjust.works
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    8 hours ago

    Conservatism can easily be a form of liberalism, and can even be considered progressive. It sounds contradictory but conservatism of progressive traditions, customs, and values is a component of many liberal societies. That’s your Teddy Roosevelts, the Southern New Deal Democrats, and the Blue Dog coalition.

    there is no necessary overlap afaik.

    As long as it is recognized that overlap isn’t a necessity, I think this is fine. The important thing to remember is that none of these terms are wholly exclusive to each other. Discussion just needs to agree to the context of used terms.

    Plenty of (big C) Conservatives want to conserve the social institutions of racial segregation or other regressive concepts. But you can also legitimately say Xi Xinping is a conservative in the context of the PRC. So there’s a wide field for the context of the terms to get stretched around and (mis)used and (mis)interpreted.

    Liberalism too. It is a concept that has existed and been applied to right wing monarchies and left wing republics. The entire French Revolution is exemplary in how these terms have no strict limit and so a baseline of agreed context is what is necessary.