Edmund Burke PC (12 January [NS] 1729[1]– 9 July 1797) was an Irish[2][3] statesman, author, orator, political theorist and philosopher who, after moving to England, served for many years in the House of Commons of Great Britain as a member of the Whig party.
He is mainly remembered for his support of the cause of the American Revolutionaries, and for his later opposition to the French Revolution. The latter led to his becoming the leading figure within the conservative faction of the Whig party, which he dubbed the "Old Whigs", in opposition to the pro–French Revolution "New Whigs", led by Charles James Fox.[4]
Burke was praised by both conservatives and liberals in the 19th century. Since the 20th century, he has generally been viewed as the philosophical founder of modern Conservatism,[5][6]as well as a representative of classical liberalism.[7] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Burke
Many on-line sources call him a conservative; but as the terms were used in 18th Century England, he was not a Conservative.
Freidrich Hayek makes a convincing case for Classical Liberalism in "Why I'm Not a Conservative."
While Yuval Levin, writing in National Review, defends Constitutional Conservatism.
You say Toe-May-to, I say Toe-mah-to. The principles, I think, are the same. Russell Kirk who is authoritative on things Burkian, calls them Conservative Principles.
I'm going to continue to ponder whether I prefer to call myself a conservative, classical liberal or something else. Who knows what else?
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