 Flanders , although himself a conservative , espoused a constructive competition between conservatism and liberalism . He felt that liberalism represented the welfare of individual people , as opposed to organizations — governments , businesses , etc . — preserving freedom of thought and action . For him , conservatism was concerned with preserving institutions that serve the interests of people , collectively . Conservatives , according to Flanders , could find themselves offering " reasoned objections to foolish proposals " by emotionally motivated liberals . He observed that , “ Even in the established democracies , ... the voters are easily seduced into leaving politics to skillful politicians who are themselves without a sense of general , social responsibility . ” 
