When did the word, "liberal," become a derogatory term?

Question

In the Fifties, when someone didn't agree with you they called you a Communist. I think this is an example of how polarized America has become. If you disagree with a certain point-of-view, your're called a liberal, which means you don't have the right to an opinion.

Answer 1

Thank you for asking the question I signed up to ask - which, of course means that I cannot answer it. I can only point to your one sided responses and the decrease of separation between church and state for an answer. Liberalism USED to mean that you believed in open-minded exchange and the right of everyone to do what they chose as long as it did not hurt others or infringe on their inherent rights. To me, this just seems elementary to our country's founding. It may be called a de-moc-ra-cy. Socialism means we all give our money away to the government and they give it away equally to all. We have something called cap-it-al-ism. Both the idea of capitalism and liberalism can, believe me, co-exist. Some of our best capitalists (Warren Buffet, Bill Gates) are, indeed, liberals. And, in my opinion, quite moral and benevolent. So I have to beg the question again - when did the term "liberal" which used to be a smart, intellectual, open-minded person become derogatory?

Answer 2

Liberalism, or in some forms socialism is based in the idea that the government should be the source of wealth, property,industry
education, healthcare..etc. The problem in this thinking is that the "government" is an unnacountable faceless non-entity. So personal responsibility dissapears and with it all the best human traits i.e. self reliance, duty to those close to you, and simple problem solving. It is always the governments fault and they spend more and more money "fixing it". I dont see this as a viable solution for a society and have very little use personally for liberalism because of this.

Answer 3

When socially liberal people started demanding not just tolerance but acceptance and celebration of everything traditionally considered immoral or repugnant. When they started pushing perversion as normal. When they made traditional a bad word. When they started demeaning people because of their faith. Liberal will be a derogatory term as long as they continue their unwarranted campaign of lies against social conservatives. Progressive is likewise becoming a bad word.

Answer 4

When the majority of liberals decided that America was inherently evil and the cause of the world's suffering and that, therefore, they should use their political influence to poison and weaken it.

Answer 5

During the Raygun years. Newt Gingrich was one of the chief operatives in this revisement.

Answer 6

It's derogatory only to the conservatives.