There is a difference. In the US, liberal has come to be about as meaningless as âfascistâ, used more as a political insult than any real characterization of underlying principles. Liberal generally speaking means a political view that wishes to restrict the stateâs ability to regulate individuals, with classical liberals particularly emphasizing markets and economic freedoms. In that sense, the American usage all but inverts it.
In American political parlance, liberal has come to mean anything short of Marxism (and maybe includes that), people who wish to use the state to regulate all aspects of life to dictate more egalitarian outcomes. Social democrats and socialists all fall into the blanket term liberal, but it also includes most moderate centrists at this point who see a role for the state in anything but military and foreign policy. From the Reagan era, âliberalâ picked up everything including your Centre Right.
Well, itâs always been confusing as social liberals and economic liberals tend to straddle the left/right divide. In fact, Trumpâs protectionist tendencies are on collision course with the free-market liberalism of many of his supporters.
Anyway, radical liberal still sounds strange to British ears.
Liberal and Conservative both have meanings in standard poli sci settings, but neither is even close to how they are used in modern US politics. From around FDR up until the current Trump realignment it was a fairly simple left vs right distinction - collective vs individual, government vs no/small government.
For generations Liberal was used a sneering pejorative by Republicans and was an accusation Democrats ran away from. Today we see a lot more willingness from many of the left to own it. What Trump would now call an extreme liberal is someone who would still reject the term, but thatâs because those leftists fucking hate liberals for being pussies not fighting hard enough for the cause and too willing to compromise. What conservative means in the modern US context with the way things have shifted on the right is really anyoneâs guess and is a term that really should be thrown away
Early on when I moved here I learned that the language used around politics is not what I was used to back home. Itâs almost meaningless, and whatever you say has pejorative connotations to whole segments of the population.
If ever I am discussing politics with someone - a rare occurrence nowadays, as it is so heated - I just have to go issue by issue and talk about what I stand for and think should happen.
Itâs okay for people to have different opinions, ShadesOfRed. Youâll be fine big guy. Trust me, thereâs multiple things I donât like about Trump and JDV.
Itâs very unsettling to read that Peter Thiel is and has been bank rolling JD Vance pretty much throughout his whole career. Then you start to hear what all companies Thiel is involved with, mainly Palantir.
Every politician should be required to wear sponsor patches on their suit jackets like NASCAR, that way we all know who they really support and get bank rolled by.
Iâm 6â 3â, born and raised in South Chicago. I would say I am far from little. I seen and be part of stuff your little white ass couldnât faithom. If you think youâre such a tough guy, come on over here for a little bit. Exactly. Youâre just a keyboard wizard. Probably an overweight male, divorced and driving for Uber.
I never said I was the ENTIRE black community. I donât need Biden to tell me I ainât black if I donât vote for him in 2020. I donât need Joy Reid spewing the same BS for Kamala.
Not bullshit when she was 30 and had an affair with Willie Brown when he was 60. He was the most powerful democrat in California at the same. He gave her jobs she was not qualified for. I believe she was around 400K a year back then, which is 800K these days. Not sexist at all. I love women. I guess I should hate the game, not the player. Fair play to her.