At what point in our history did the word liberal become a dirty word?

Question

According to the dictionary, liberal is possessing or manifesting a free and generous heart: Appropriate or fitting for a broad and enlightened mind: Free from narrowness, bigotry, or bondage to authority: Opposed to monarchical or aristocratic rule.
Now what in the world is wrong with that? At what point did this become un-American? Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Answer 1

I'm thinking LBJ and his "Great Society" as a direct answer.

ps. Classical Liberalism was the original term for what is now called Conservatism. Not a darn thing wrong with it in my mind.

Answer 2

It is not a dirty word unless you are Rush Limbaugh. One of the major issues confronting the American voter is the two party system that has evolved into a polarized "we and them" philosophy. Both parties have dissolved into name calling and a disregard for their constituents. They have hidden agendas that have nothing to do with making this country great. It is all about getting votes and getting elected again. What we need is more political diversity, more parties, more candidates, more opinions. This will require money and popular support or we are going to see this country slide into the abyss. This is our country and we as a people are letting the talking heads on TV tell us how to vote and who to vote for. If you were smart you would vote a new person into office, every election, and at least half of those people ought to represent diverse populations in the USA. have you noticed that the minority candidates from the two parties, are soon voting and acting like the establishment within a few years. I say get the current idiots out and then keep rotating them. The term limit should be one term. See what happens then...

Answer 3

A "liberal" as a techniques with the aid of fact the U. S. is in touch is a quite present day term. the 1st liberals as an prepared political flow handed off around the turn of the 20 th century as a reaction to the Robber Barons and Bolshiviks and have been the beggining of the midsection type. perchance Teddy Roosevelt exchange into the 1st liberal president? He ran on a "bust the trusts" slogan and he exchange right into a republican. those that supported England have been worry-free as "loyalists", those that supported the south in the time of the civil war have been democrats or dixiecrats, and the Quakers constantly have been antislavery and you will't get extra conservative than them. i'm no supporter of the GOP i'm in basic terms asserting a number of your misconceptions. Liberal is a grimy be conscious as we talk with the aid of fact this is been hijacked with the aid of the Democrat occasion this is definately no longer LIBERAL. The thought of political correctness and revisionist historic past have been initially a Stalin/Bolshevik coverage. Hitler used them too. As do those that declare to be Liberal in the U. S. as we talk. in case you have been to translate the words as we talk to their unique meanings it may be some thing like this Liberal = Socialist Neo-Cons = Robber Baron/Elitist Conservatives = individualists = they may be the genuine classical liberals and you will no longer see any of them on television or related to a political occasion. ask your self does and self sufficient conservative incredibly need to work out each thing proceed to be the comparable? Or are they stressful accountabilty and alter? you're a classical liberal as am I and maximum individuals, we've not any representation.

Answer 4

What you described about liberals by the passage taken from the dictionary are the ultimate ideals of liberals.

However nowadays most liberals are borderlining communism. All the pro affirmative action, pro welfare, increased taxes for the hard working people, etc mirror marxism.

America is a democracy where people are free and by that it also means you are rewarded by merit. Why should a black kid get favoritism into harvard just because of skin color? Why should people who work their asses off to make $100K above be taxed at 33% while people who are lazy and make $20K a year get no tax dedeucted and receive welfare?

Look at the US auto industry. All the liberals who were pro unionization of Ford and GM launched there campaign on the grounds of socialism. Now America's flagship auto industry is in shambles.

In NYC, high school educated MTA workers went on strike over a $65K a year salary because they were unionized and backed by liberal supporters.

I used to be a liberal but nowadays liberals have gotten too extreme and are borderlining socialism.

Answer 5

I KNOW MAN!! These repukes just don't have any intelligence. All they can spew in a debate is names and call you a liberal. Sometimes they will even call liberals socialist. So I ask them to define a socialist, and they cant even!! These people are sick in the head!
And also a liberal is defined as someone who approves of civil liberties and the freedoms provided by the constitution. Obviously republicans don't even know what a "civil liberty" is. They wouldn't know liberty if it hit them in the back of their head.

"A country can not be both free and ignorant, but a country can be freely ignorant" - Thomas Jefferson, when the people rely solely on propaganda the country is no longer free.

"Those who would give freedom for security, deserve neither" Thomas Jefferson.

Answer 6

During the Reagan years, he used it as a repuke rally cry. People bought it and have used it as a bad word every since. No there is nothing wrong with the politics of liberalism. We at least care about the country and not our personal wealth. We look at the country as a whole and not just for the rich.

Answer 7

well... I think it's a bit of the nature of the beast...

think about it...

liberal means open to new ideas... so naturally conservatives (those who don't want change at any costs and want to protect tradition) are going to be afraid of change and lash out at those who want it...

but, in reality, it's all propaganda... and it's people basically saying... "I'm afraid of what I don't understand/know"...

it's happened all down through history, from slavery to modern medical techniques... progress always starts out as the devil and becomes the "moral norm"...

I'm just surprised that in this day that even there are as many people that still buy into all the propaganda...I would hope we are past that... but I think the number is shrinking... but they just yell louder, so it seems like there are more of them...

Answer 8

As soon as the corrupt as heck self serving hypocritical Democratic Party adopted it.

Answer 9

Since it became an excuse to allow our children to be raised with the absence of morals-just look around you

Answer 10

probobally when the conservatives began holding political positions in the government. the rise of neocons.