16th Street Forum

F. A. Hayek, economist and philosopher, was the darling of Thatcherite conservatives, although we would call him libertarian (and he would call himself a Whig). His warning to modern conservatives, given in his essay 'Why I Am Not a Conservative', remains ever fresh.

When I say that the conservative lacks principles, I do not mean to suggest that he lacks moral conviction. The typical conservative is indeed usually a man of very strong moral convictions. What I mean is that he has no political principles which enable him to work with people whose moral values differ from his own for a political order in which both can obey their convictions.