Trumpism vs. the Western Tradition: Why Classical Liberalism Still Matters

What does it mean to be 'conservative' or 'liberal' today?

The partisan definitions are well-known in Canada, and many other nations use 'conservative' & 'liberal' as shorthand for 'right' and 'left'. But this neat and easy division of voters into opposing camps is becoming less and less relevant.

Consider the case of the man currently destabilizing markets: U.S. President Donald Trump.

Donald Trump is the head of the Republican Party, a party that considers itself conservative. His opposition - the Democratic Party - is nominally considered a 'liberal' party. Yet, when we look at Donald Trump's trade actions - and overall approach to executive power - we see few elements of what were considered to be core Western conservative values.

The most venerated Western conservative leaders of the 20th Century - Churchill, Reagan, Thatcher, Mulroney - were all pro-trade, pro-democracy, pro-NATO, and pro-market. They were classical liberals who, despite some policy differences, had an overarching worldview that prioritized individual freedom above centralized government power. In this way, they were conservatives in the sense of defending the core values that helped build the Western world....