Why are democrats referred to as liberal?

I find myself asking where that definition of liberalism came from.

 

This is selfish, but I'll ask anyway.

Can you show how the same work views conservatism?

 

As I said, it was selfish, and I didn't necessarily expect you to indulge me.

I don't pick sides but what you described as liberal sounded a lot like conservative (at least parts of it did, according to what i hear a lot from "conservatives"), and that's why I asked. I'm not sure if this was what you thought I was getting at, but I do appreciate your patience.

I'm drinking, so I'm probably not as sharp as usual.

 

My views on social issues tend to get me labeled a liberal (and maybe half of my admittedly-poor-educated views on economy would too). I like the definition you gave, I just thought it was too good to be true. I'm not as interested in politics as my usual mockery in these political forums would have one think, but I'm going to admit I'm more than a little fascinated in your politics 101 course right now and I may have to enroll myself in such a course on my next opportunity.

God help me, I might actually be one of these crazy liberals people decry. It never really occurred to me, to be honest. I'm used to thinking of liberals as tax-loving communists, or at least looking at that definition with some degree of amusement as it arises from the right.

ps. If that definition is true, I am totally behind the question you're raising. Neither party really seems to honor any of those ideas beyond mere lip service

 

This is something close to what I was reading in my new book last night, What's Wrong with Canada, Still!. Basically somewhere along the line liberals decided to emphasize on equality, which is almost always coerced out of the people, rather then liberty and freedom. Essentially both fight "for the people", yet the apparently subtle difference has gone unchecked in North America, leaving us with Amerikas Democrats and Kanadas Liberal Party.

 

That's pretty much it. In the early 20th century liberals promoted the idea of using government instead of limiting government. Ex. is government would send troops to quell union strikes and liberals wanted government to be fair broker. But now liberals want government on the side of unions. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

 

I think Liberalism in the classical sense started to become a popular idea which questioned government power/necessity. And since governments primary objective is its own survival, the meaning of the word was gradually changed to reflect that the virtues of true freedom and equality of opportunity were only possible through government.

 

I negate that first definition of the OP.

Liberalism and Conservatism is easy to understand. The definition above is in accordance to maybe a liberal view in soviet russia lol.

However liberalism and conservatism are entirely instantaneous with the political situation. It does not have an exact definition of its beliefs.

Its as simple as....

Conservatism; A belief in upholding the establishment and the way things are done.

Liberalism; A belief against the upholding of the standard establishment and making necessary reforms to said laws and governing style.

That definition way above is clearly inaccurate in accordance to the universal sense of "Liberalism"

 

That's not conservatism, that's reactionism.


Conservatism today means limited government, free markets.

Liberalism today (in the US) means big government, planned markets.

Liberalism today (in the UK) means limited government, free markets.

 

There is no universal sense of the word "liberalism". as aaronman pointed out in the UK, and all Europe i believe, the world liberalism kept the original meaning which is the definition given in the OP.

@ OP, in the us the meaning started to change in the 20's 30's. FDR described his policies as "liberal" while they were far from being"classical-liberal".

 

It actually goes all the way back to the Magna Charta. the lesser nobles and merchant princes who pushed king whatshisface to sign the magna charta were considered by the rest of the lot who didn't to be liberals. they referred to themselves conservatives, as in conserve the power of the nobility.

in the classic sense a conservative is someone who believes in a ruling class and special powers related to birthright, divine right of kings, prima nocta (probably) and all that other "i was born in the castle so im better than you" bullshit. all of the founding fathers would have referred to themselves as liberals, conversely they would have called the loyalists who didn't want to break with England conservative.

but as mentioned the definitions of words and their usage changes. In america at least "liberal" means liberal use of governmental authority.

problem is most people in america are operating from a flawed assumption that the "liberals" are actually interested in liberal govenment policy (not power). when, as a lot of us have figured out, the Democrats are more conservative than what they would like us to believe. seems to me they fall in line with classic conservative values. ruling class (check), special powers for the social elite (check), divine right of president (check)....and they have expanded 'prima nocta' to include fucking all of us, all the time. not just on the poor cunts wedding night!

 

Yes, yes reactionism and reactionary are words we don't usually or ever hear outside of textbooks with a glossary. I was just basically explaining what liberalism really is

Pro change and reform, not supporting of current establishment cut the fat and thats all I am really saying. Your post is still correct though.

 

Learn something new everyday!





As far as the terms democrat, liberal, conservative, republican, and the dreaded neo-con .... these are all terms that have changed with the people using them.

Whatever a party of people wants to be portrayed as, they choose the appropriate name to create that image.

I fear that the term "libertarian" soon will follow suit. Conservatives and republicans of today are grasping to the term like crazy. They call themselves libertarians and when you explain to them the ways in which they conflict with the term in their beliefs, they become highly offended and go straight to denial.