Abortion and homosexual marriage appear on the surface to be very difficult areas for classical liberalism to navigate. There are the twin shoals of excessive libertarianism and over-conservatism to avoid, for the question of government involvement in the matter is the central issue, and those who argue that government should not discriminate between normal and same-sex couples can make their case seem both principled and liberal-minded. The truth is, however, that it is those who favor homosexual marriage and an abortion "right" who want to suppress freedom, and those who oppose these ideas are the ones who represent greater freedom. Hence I argue that opposition to homosexual marriage and an abortion right are in fact the true classical liberal positions on these matters. Classical liberals gravitate toward allowing communities to decide things for themselves, after Edmund Burke’s notion of the "little platoons," and we are intensely concerned with protecting both individual human lives and social order. As a result, I would suggest that classical liberals–such as Burke, Smith, Cleveland, Reagan, etc.—would unreservedly oppose legalization of abortion, unless it were proven conclusively that human life begins at some specifiable point after conception. Until then, a classical liberal would say, the law

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