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Liberal - Liberalism - Liberalist

Liberal - Liberalism - Liberalist

How do humans define liberals in politics?

-- John F. Kennedy

Liberalist Liberalism Liberal

For me personally, a liberal in politics is one who believes that a lot of government intervention is a good thing. They can also be defined by some of the viewpoints they have on certain issues, eg For same-sex marriage, Against the death penalty, For abortion, etc. Most liberals are advocates for minority groups although this has been changing over the last few years as conservatives are realizing that targeting minority groups is good for the health of their respective campaigns. This to me in a nutshell defines a liberal politician; it is a simplistic view but a good starting point for me, at least.

Liberal - Liberalism - Liberalist History & Civil Business Politics

Classical liberals believed in small limited government and a free market; somewhat like traditional libertarianism today. The Founders were liberals in this sense.

However, today the word has been hijacked by an altogether different school of thought - one that supports big government (I.e. robs people of their freedom) in the name of compassion, promotes immorality and often campaigns in a very illiberal way against those holding to morals or traditions that tend to support moral standards.

Dubhdara

Liberalist Liberalism Liberal

I was confused when I first got to Australia, because their Liberal party is fairly similar to the U.S. Republican party. Their Democrat equivalent is the Labor Party.

I once read a quote that said, essentially, "Liberals think they can rehabilitate even the hardest criminals. They want to change the label on the Listerine bottle to say 'Rehabilitate the germs that cause bad breath.'"

Liberal means giving. People on the left of the political spectrum think the giving should occur at tax time so we can provide for everybody's needs. Those on the right can be just as liberal with their resources, but many prefer to give through churches, charities, and other organizations that work more efficiently than bloated government. People on both sides can be equally compassionate and generous, but they disagree on the best means to achieve their noble goals. Thus, certain individuals of all political persuasions may be rightly called liberal.

Liberalist Liberalism Liberal

I like that quote. It had me chuckling a bit.

I think, in general, a liberal is one who had radically different, progressive ideas. What was considered liberal 50 years ago is often considered conservative today. What we consider liberal today will likely be thought of as conservative 50 years from now.

In political terms, I think, liberal has a bit different meaning. It is relative to today's morals and standards. So, today's liberal is generally in favor of higher taxes to spread the wealth, or in other words, to create more entitlement programs. They generally are pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage, more into big government. Tomorrows liberals will be on the edge of the morals/standards of the generation from which they come. The specifics will likely be different from what they are today.

Liberal - Liberalism - Liberalist

In the US currently, I would consider a liberal a person that embrases the following ideas:

Federal Government should actively be involved in attempting to solve peoples problems and provide aid to those in need.

Highly focused on the rights of "groups"

Desire a more balanced profile of wealth in the populus.

Stongly concerned with international apprearances.

Desire a stonger Federal Government as apposed to State Governments.

That is a pretty broad brush because there are so many different levels of liberalism. Clinton ran for election as more liberal than he actually governed the country. Bush Jr, by far, has run more liberal than he actually ran for election (1st term).

Just a thought,

Vincenzo

Liberal Liberalism Liberalist

I think that all the definitions offered so far are extremely good. However, I think that they are all idealistic in that no definition of liberalism seems to describe how modern American liberals actually act.

An example of a modern American liberal who is having to face his own "faith" can be found in this New York Magazine article.

Read the whole article.

I bring this up not to bash on modern liberals or liberalism, but to point out that there is a disconnect between what the liberals say about their feelings for their country, and their actions and emotions about what happens to it.

Liberal Liberalism Liberalist Politics Business Civil & History

I found a rather interesting article today about how modern liberals in the US would like to change the US Constitution.
https://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Publ...05/504hndlw.asp

This is about a conference at Yale, sponsored by the American Constitutional Society. Here is a website specifically about the conference.

So, what directions do the modern "Progressives" (euphemism for "American Liberal") want to see the Constitution to take?

• $80,000 to be given to each person as a "citizen's inheritance"
• Special "housing" dollars and "health care" dollars are to be provided for citizens
• The 14th Amendment is broken and needs to be fixed - not all states provide the same level of socialism (education benefits, health care, etc.)

So, how are liberals going to do this? Through the continued actions of unelected, unaccountable judges. They actually said this in the conference.

Liberals know that they can't get any of these ideas passed through the normal election process, as they are outside of the mainstream of political thought, so they push them through other means.

This is what modern American liberalism is about, at least from my point of view.