Talk:Liberalism/classical

Liberalism and economics

There are three economic traditions within the broad stream of liberalism. The term economic liberalism normally refers to the economic views of classical liberals or neo-liberals rather than that of liberals in the U.S. sense. In a strictly U.S. context it can have that second meaning. In this article, we will avoid using that term in that U.S.-specific way.

Classical liberalism

Classical liberals have an identified theory of liberty, centered on notions of spontaneous order, natural law, property rights, and individual responsibility. They strongly differentiate genuine classical liberal authors from their contemporaries, and recognise among them John Locke (as opposed to Thomas Hobbes), David Hume (as opposed to Immanuel Kant), Adam Smith (as opposed to Jean-Jacques Rousseau); they consider John Stuart Mill as an author who wrote quite interesting things but not a genuine classical liberal; in his era they much prefer Frederic Bastiat. They favour a free market economy and reject any kind of government influence in society. They thus tend to be defiant to any kind of politics, including the politics of liberal politicians. Historically, classical liberalism has opposed mercantilism and socialism (as well as any form of collectivism).