What exactly does the term 'liberal' mean in the USA?

Question

In Europe, or the UK at least, there are 2 types of liberal
1) Economic liberalism: which is concerned with deregulation of markets, removal of trade restrictions and as little government control as possible. Your basic free marketeers which is why it confuses me when some Americans call all 'liberals' socialists.

2) Social liberalism, which is primarily concerned with the preservation of civil liberties, social justice (a better deal for the poor etc), and as little government interference on your private affairs (who you can and cannot marry, what your religion is). But it’s the American conservatives who like to describe themselves as the small government side.

It seems that somehow what Americans call liberal is something completely different from what the UK would term liberal. Like the way football is a completely different thing on each side of the Atlantic.

This begs the question, what the hell does the word 'liberal' mean in America?

Ok, i've counted 2 answers which are actually addressing the question, the rest are just name calling or some other partizan slight. real mature guys.

Answer 1

anti-American

Answer 2

In the US, it depends on who you ask.

According to the answers you etfrom the great majorit of Americans, those falling into the first category are generally considered moderate-to-conservative; the latter are what are usually considered liberal. Otherwise, the cheif difference--which you alluded to--is the "large v. small" government thing.

That's because the moderate conservatives (and in terms of classical liberalism, they are liberals!) view the often large social service programs of social liberals as leading to "big bovernment." social liberals tend to focus more on keeping the level of intrusion into people's lives to a minimum, and are less concerend with keeping the size of government programs to a minimum.

However, there is a distinct third group in the United States--the "neo-conservatives"--a mix of extreme right-wing and ultra-conservative religeous groups. If you ask a member of this group, they regard the term "liberal" to be an eputhet--to be applied to anyone who has the temerity to dissent from their agenda. They are, fortunately, a small and shrinking minority of the American population. Unfortunately, in recent years, through the Bush administration and a (admittedly effective) campaign of intimidation of Republican politicians, have wielded a disproportionate amount of political paowrr. That, however, is being brought to a halt--their remaining power (at the nationallevel, especially) will be over with after the 2008 election.

Answer 3

The way I hear the term Liberal used the most is in reference to Social Issues like a woman's right to choose, protecting the environment, and in protecting the Civil Rights of minorities-ethnic or sexual.

Your description of "Economic Liberalism" is more commonly described as NeoLiberalism. This the "Free Trade/Globalization" (really Corporate managed trade) agenda pushed by the Clintons and the Bush's which is simply the search for ever cheaper labor and resources for Corporations that has resulted in a net loss of over 800,000 jobs to Mexico (NAFTA) and Millions more to China (MFNS with China). Deregulation and Privatization has been part of this but is pushed harder by the Norquist ("Drown the New Deal in a Bathtub") Conservatives.

The big difference between the Liberals and the Left (not represented in the U.S. Corporate media) is the Left is against the entire NeoLiberal/Free Trade agenda, is for Singlre Payer Healthcare and is against the Imperialist Empire of 737 U.S. military bases in over 130 countries, Illegal Invasions and Occupations.

Answer 4

Conservatives were the ruling class in Europe, while the founding fathers of America were mostly liberals. I found these differences are interesting to study further. They may explain what the term conservatives means in the USA too.

Answer 5

good wing human beings call all and multiple to the left of Adolf Hitler "socialists". because they do no longer comprehend what socialism is, and want to discredit the competition by truly calling them names. Liberals in u.s. are social liberals (to some extent), and monetary liberals (to some extent) - in different words, on the political spectrum they are slightly to the right of what we call Liberals. Which begs the question: the position do Republicans lie on the political spectrum, once you concentrate on that American "Liberals" are what lets call Conservatives?

Answer 6

From the reactions and responses, you can gather that there are a lot of inconsistencies in the way these labels are applied State side. In short, most Americans, including myself, are a confused lot.

For example, stateside, Economic Conservatives are in favor of as little government regulation as possible (i.e., environmental, taxation) when it is beneficial to American business (or rather the people who OWN businesses), but at the same time, they are also infavor of farm subsidies and loans to business to support "development" such as a recent push to turn coal-into-gas (espcially when it will benefit their constituencies). The are generally against big government and big government spending unless it is military spending or military defense, then they are for. But even when they are for military spending, the still seem to be against taxation (especially graduated income taxes). Hence a national defense that is in the trillions.

Then you have social conservatism. The stereotype of social conservatism is essentially the application of religious principles and doctrines as laws. But that is an over-simplification. They value life that is unborn (prolife) but some are in favor of war and the death penality. There is also an element of the modern Republican Party (generally associated with conservative policies) that is directly descended from a faction of the Southern Democratic party that lobbied for segregation and against civil rights. After passage of the Civil Rights Ammendment many of these Dixie-crats crossed the aisle and became Republicans (i.e., Senator Strom Thurmond). Conservatives claim to be "tough on crime", but oppose gun control. They are generally in favor of criminalizing social problems like drugs and fighting a "war on drugs" instead of working to solve the drug problem my trying to stop demand (i.e., supporting treatment) (espcially when it will benefit their constituencies).

Now Social Liberals are generally for less government regulation of people's private lives and are against the legislation of religious precept and are more concerned about personal (i.e., civil, gay, etc rights) than corporate welfare, so they are generally more supportive of government regulations to protect the greater public good (i.e., the environment, social reform, social welfare), and are willing to tax people according to their means (i.e., graduated income tax) to do so (espcially when it will benefit their constituencies).

Economic Liberals in the US? It really comes down to tax policy and environmental regulation these days. Liberals are infavor of conducting business in ways that provide for the long-term protections for the environment and for workers rights, at a slightly higher cost to business owners and the ultra rich (espcially when it will benefit their constituencies).

Conservatives think Liberals are Maxists, Liberals think conseratives are facists, Few people knows what socialism is or how it differs from marxism, nor that most of our allies in Western Europe are democratic socialist republics. Everyone seems to think that communism is the polar opposite of democracy even though one is an economic system and the other is a political system.

In short, its a mess.

Answer 7

Basically American Liberalism is social liberalism, but not the extent found in Europe. They support a massive welfare state like found in Europe, but they are a little more in favor of interference in private lives than their European counterparts.

Basically the economic liberal in the European sense would be someone like Rudy Giuliani. Fiscal conservative, supports law and order, plus a less intrusive government in private matters. European economic liberals support lowering taxes, less government, law and order, and a more permissive social policy in private matters (pro-gay marriage, pro-choice, etc.) I probably would be a liberal in the European sense and a misfit in the American sense.

Answer 8

Those parties with liberal or progressive in their name are socialist. Just listen to them. And do not let anyone tell you that the Natzis were not socialists also. Liberals are people who still believe that if the right people (them) were in charge they could still make socialism work despite the repeated failures.
You have been listening to the propaganda people. It is their job to confuse you. Unfortunately, you are not alone.
Your understanding of conservative principles is good.

Answer 9

In america Liberal means leftist. They are for increasing the power and scope of government. Socialist government programs and spending to combat every social ill. Using the tax code to punish achievement and reward sloth.

Answer 10

Socialist.

Answer 11

For the most part it is now a label that Conservatives use to attack anyone who does not believe what they believe. Conservative is also treated in the same way. Many of the people who use these terms have absolutely no idea what they are saying. Sad.