Conservative liberalism

[specify][6] Ordoliberalism is an influential component of conservative-liberal thought, particularly in its German, British, Canadian, French, Italian, and American manifestations.

It means following Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, and Edmund Burke rather than Locke or Kant; it usually includes a deep sympathy for the politics of the Greek polis, the Roman Republic, and Christian monarchies.

But, as realists, conservative liberals acknowledge that classical and medieval politics cannot be restored in the modern world.

And, as moralists, they see that the modern experiment in liberty and self-government has the positive effect of enhancing human dignity as well as providing an opening (even in the midst of mass culture) for transcendent longings for eternity.

At its practical best, conservative liberalism promotes ordered liberty under God and establishes constitutional safeguards against tyranny.

It shows that a regime of liberty based on traditional morality and classical-Christian culture is an achievement we can be proud of, rather than merely defensive about, as trustees of Western civilization.

Until the two world wars, the political class in most European countries from Germany to Italy was formed by conservative liberals.

[citation needed] According to the German Wikipedia, most of the national liberals during the Weimar Republic joined the CDU, a liberal-conservative party.

After the war, Germany pursued economic growth based on the social market economy, which is deeply related to ordoliberalism.

[21] In the United Kingdom, David Hume, Adam Smith, and Edmund Burke have been identified as conservative liberals.

[29] In the case of the Democratic Party, the Blue Dog Coalition is evaluated as close to conservative-liberal in fiscal policy,[30] and as moderate to liberal on cultural issues.