What is a liberal?

Question

I heard it was someone who lives in America but hates America? Can this be right?

Answer 1

According to some, according to others he is a patriot not afraid to stand up to public scrutinity for what he believes in. Which is after all what America is all about.

Answer 2

What you heard is simply a political punchline used frequently by conservatives to demonise their opponents. It's clearly not factual in any way.

It is clearly no more true than saying that a conservative is someone who lives in America but hates Americans. It's only a political punchline.

A liberal has many definitions for different periods, but the basics of the position would be-

i. social permissive to a greater or lesser degree - liberal, from the latin "libertas" meaning freedom tends towards allowing people to do what they want to do so long as it is consensual and does not cause harm to others - probably best explained in J.Stuart Mills "On Liberty".

Interestingly the other well known latin word for freedom is "licentia" which gives us the words licence and licentious - no doubt charges that could be levelled at some liberal.

In today's America this position is most controversial in areas of personal sexuality, national government security programs and issues around abortion.


ii. Economic intercessionist - as the liberal position tends towards allowing 'people' to 'do things', the modern liberal has often found themeselves in the position of agreeing to wide-ranging government intervention, especially financial, in fields such as health, social security and education, in order to 'free' those who otherwise might not be able to beneift from their freedoms.

This usually necessitates increased taxation (although the irish and some asian tiger economic models dispute this) which in short means taking money away from some people to distribute in some forms to others.

Historically there is nothing 'liberal' in this position, as the 'liberal' believes a person has the right to do with their money what they want, not lose it to taxes. However over time the liberal position has tended in practice to adopt an interventionist policy.

Someone who believed in both social liberal ideals and economic liberal ideals would commonly be described as a 'libertarian' or even an "anarchist" in today's America.

By way of comparison, the conservative position today argues essentially for social interventionism 'in the form of criminalising or censuring sexual behaviour, abortion, and resisitance to interference in private education and health models, and economic liberalism, low tax, low regulation - again, not a traditionally 'conservative' combination of positions per se.

However socially and economically conservative policies together are often associated with quite dictitorial regimes so the more nuanced modern conservative position is not necessarily a bad thing

To find out what you are, you could do a lot worse than try the 'Political compass' at http://www.politicalcompass.org/

Answer 3

No some of them hate America so badly, they live outside of the country now!

Answer 4

From what I have seen, yes. But most that I have interacted will tell you that it's the conservatives that hate America.

Answer 5

In this environment a liberal is one who can answer a question with an intelligent answer unlike their counterparts who can only insult and make ridiculously false statements in order to whitewash truth. Need examples just read up!

Answer 6

In general, a liberal is someone who supports tolerance of all people -regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, etc. They tend to support (or at least see the value of) government social programs, even if it means higher taxes. They tend to support laws and programs which help the working man over the rich. I would also say liberals are more likely to oppose military action unless there is a real and present threat.

I won't even address what you heard.

Answer 7

Liberals are the people fighting the Republicans Conservatives in America. When Republican conservatives lose they call people names.

Answer 8

You're a fraud. You live right here in America. You're the little dog that yelps until the big dogs come out.

Answer 9

Well,many say they don't but the terrorists are under the
impression that they do? Where did that get that Idea from?
You do the math!

Answer 10

Liberal is defined as anyone who is open to new ideas, like that women are equal to men, minorities are also human and that Christianity actually should be about compassion and not about hate.

From Dictionary.com:

lib·er·al /ˈlɪbərəl, ˈlɪbrəl/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[lib-er-uhl, lib-ruhl] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–adjective 1. favorable to progress or reform, as in political or religious affairs.
2. (often initial capital letter) noting or pertaining to a political party advocating measures of progressive political reform.
3. of, pertaining to, based on, or advocating liberalism.
4. favorable to or in accord with concepts of maximum individual freedom possible, esp. as guaranteed by law and secured by governmental protection of civil liberties.
5. favoring or permitting freedom of action, esp. with respect to matters of personal belief or expression: a liberal policy toward dissident artists and writers.
6. of or pertaining to representational forms of government rather than aristocracies and monarchies.
7. free from prejudice or bigotry; tolerant: a liberal attitude toward foreigners.
8. open-minded or tolerant, esp. free of or not bound by traditional or conventional ideas, values, etc.
9. characterized by generosity and willingness to give in large amounts: a liberal donor.
10. given freely or abundantly; generous: a liberal donation.
11. not strict or rigorous; free; not literal: a liberal interpretation of a rule.
12. of, pertaining to, or based on the liberal arts.
13. of, pertaining to, or befitting a freeman.
–noun 14. a person of liberal principles or views, esp. in politics or religion.
15. (often initial capital letter) a member of a liberal party in politics, esp. of the Liberal party in Great Britain.


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[Origin: 1325–75; ME < L lÄ«berālis of freedom, befitting the free, equiv. to lÄ«ber free + -ālis -al1]