Why do right-wingers call every non-conservative a liberal? Are their brains single-tracked?

Question

What if they find out that liberalism is about right-wing economics?
Is this something they learn on hate radio/Fox?? or??

Answer 1

To answer Chapin first, liberals can't define words as they wish, but conservatives can?
Some conservative definitions:
Jingoism=patriotism
Intrusive powerful government = small government
pro-choice = pro abortion
bigotry = family values
ignorance = religion
xenophobia = patriotism
Oligopoly = free market
oligarchy = democracy
belligerent military action = foreign policy
military supremacy = scientific, financial, economic supremacy

but anyways, I digress.. to answer the original question: capitalism, free market economics etc are products of liberalism. Laissez-faire, the cornerstone of capitalism, is a liberal principle, coined in FRANCE! Entrepreneur is also a French word. Surprise! Surprise!

What passes in the name of right wing conservatism couldn't be any further from these principles that are the bedrock of American success. And those principles were liberal to start with.

Answer 2

Most non-conservatives are liberals....socialists, communists, democrats...they're all various degrees of liberalism.
Liberalism doesn't mean right wing economics. Unfortunately, when you're a conservative, you can't redefine words whenever you feel like it. Liberals do that. The words "marriage", "choice", "is", etc. have all been given different definitions by liberals.
Most of what you call "hate radio" is well reasoned, thoughtful, open-minded commentary. There are a few guys that get too worked up once in a while. Most conservatives want to debate liberals on the facts and merits of argument. You should listen with an open mind. You might be end up being healed from liberalism.

Answer 3

Why do all liberals call us right-wingers or necons or whatever else you got. I think I understand you to mean that the democratic party (or at least those opposing the conservative agenda) are a broad group not propperly classified as just liberals. That's fine. It's a broad term that applies more to your team name than your philosophy, just as we say conservative even though most republicans are more libretarian philosophically than technically conservative. Non of us are mindless lemmings following some propoganda tune from whatever source.

If someone called you a liberal & you didn't like it, why did they do that? Were you aspousing a liberal position, or blondly attacking a conservative position in a short-sighted what as many liberals do on this site? What would give this person cause to think you are a liberal? Perhaps you could take a second to look inward before you look outward. I'm not saying the other person was right for leveling a stereotype at you, but there's a probably a reason.

Answer 4

Be proud of what you are.I guess its hard to be proud of being a left-winger/liberal when you always feel guilty,embarrassed,and ashamed to be living in the greatest country in history.As far as liberals are concerned,the United States is not what it is because we've worked hard,because we had a brilliant set of founding fathers who wrote a genius document ensuring our freedom,which allowed for the pursuit of excellence.That's not what a liberal believes.A liberal thinks that we somehow stole what we have.And the liberal remedy for this is not to spread our way of life around to the rest of the world so that they,too,can benefit from freedom.Instead,they think that we Americans have an unfair advantage over the rest of the world.A liberals answer is to give away our prosperity,because liberals think that we are nothing but a bunch of greedy,selfish Americans.Which is why,when third world countries show up at the U.N. and demand that we pay them this,and pay them that,liberals are more than happy to give our money away to the IMF or the world bank.Still think I'm wrong?Then explain to me the appeasement of the soviet union during the cold war.Explain to me a liberals'instinct to always and forever accommodate America's enemies-to placate,compromise,pay off?Liberals' run around with the largest amount of collective guilt you'll ever see.

Answer 5

Actually, "liberal" isn't a term that the right coined.

You are right that they have been misusing it. Classical liberalism is really about free-markets and also encompasses the kind of free speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press kinds of things that our Constitution and Bill of Rights were about.

But...The left has been hiding behind the word "liberal" for generations. It isn't the right that started using the term for leftists. They used it for themselves, because terms like "socialist" or even "progressive" were seen as unpopular, so they started calling themselves "liberal" in order to get elected. That worked well until the 1980's, when Americans finally caught on to the idea that liberal meant socialist, bleeding-heart, anti-military. Suddenly, "liberal" became unpopular, and the left started running away from that word too. However, by now, the right became fixated on it, and they play it up on Fox, etc. Truthfully, neither liberals or conservatives fit the dictionary definitions anymore.

Still, I think you need to get a bit of perspective. Don't imagine that what you hear on the right is "hate-based". That's a bogus accusation. It's based on principles...perhaps you disagree with them, but don't make it into a shouting match. When you make pointless accusations like that, you play right into the hands of the politicians who enjoy having this neatly divided population to play off of. I mean, what better way to raise lots of donations?

Answer 6

Neocons think the word "liberal" draws blood. It does not. Simple, they want to draw blood. When you have nothing but failure to talk about Neocons like to change the subject. Neocons want Congress to debate "flag Burning" while they send $2 billion in cash to Afghanistan. We send $2 billion a month to Israel. The Iraq war will cost tax payers $2 trillion. Our trade deficit is $63.8 billion and our national debt is out of control.
I am a "conservative". I am not a Republican. I support spending Federal taxes that help working class people and women.
I also think Abortion and gay marriage are non issues. With 44 million Americans without any health care and half that are women and children, If i were a Republican I would change the subject to "liberals".

Answer 7

Pretty much. They fear change and radical idea's and fail to belive that the thing's they support are the wild idea's.

All I really need are the definitions of both words.

Liberal

adj 1: showing or characterized by broad-mindedness; "a broad political stance"; "generous and broad sympathies"; "a liberal newspaper"; "tolerant of his opponent's opinions" [syn: broad, large-minded, tolerant] 2: having political or social views favoring reform and progress 3: tolerant of change; not bound by authoritarianism, orthodoxy, or tradition [ant: conservative] 4: given or giving freely; "was a big tipper"; "the bounteous goodness of God"; "bountiful compliments"; "a freehanded host"; "a handsome allowance"; "Saturday's child is loving and giving"; "a liberal backer of the arts"; "a munificent gift"; "her fond and openhanded grandfather" [syn: big, bighearted, bounteous, bountiful, freehanded, handsome, giving, openhanded] 5: not literal; "a loose interpretation of what she had been told"; "a free translation of the poem" [syn: free, loose] n 1: a person who favors a political philosophy of progress and reform and the protection of civil liberties [syn: progressive] [ant: conservative] 2: a person who favors an economic theory of laissez-faire and self-regulating markets
Source: WordNet ® 2.0, © 2003 Princeton University

Conservative

adj 1: resistant to change [ant: liberal] 2: opposed to liberal reforms 3: avoiding excess; "a conservative estimate" [syn: cautious] 4: unimaginatively conventional; "a colorful character in the buttoned-down, dull-gray world of business"- Newsweek [syn: button-down, buttoned-down] 5: conforming to the standards and conventions of the middle class; "a bourgeois mentality" [syn: bourgeois, materialistic] n : a person who has conservative ideas or opinions [syn: conservativist] [ant: liberal]
Source: WordNet ® 2.0, © 2003 Princeton University

Answer 8

Same reason every demo-rat on here is a Bush hater.
Do you learn it from hate liberal radio or the liberal newspapers or CNN, the Communist News Network.

Answer 9

How do you know that all right-wingers, call non-conservatives liberals? I pretty sure our brains don't have tracks!

Answer 10

It is most unfortunate that you have only made a baseless generalization. You have not asked a question, but you are spewing insinuations. To call someone a "liberal" is to refer to their handling of the US Constitution, a "liberal" rendering of its principles. To be a "liberal" is hardly an insult; it merely denotes the way someone interprets the constitution. I think you may have gotten your hate on MSNBC???