What does the word "liberal" mean?

[question everything]

It has been getting on our nerves when the word "liberal" is being spouted on attack ads as it it were the same as leper, or terrorist, or child molester.

Where, spouse asked, do they think the term "liberal art" or liberal art college" come from?

So we went to Wikipedia:

The term liberal in liberal arts is from the Latin word liberalis, meaning "appropriate for free men" (social and political elites), and they were contrasted with the servile arts. The liberal arts thus initially represented the kinds of skills and general knowledge needed by the elite echelon of society, whereas the servile arts represented specialized tradesman skills and knowledge needed by persons who were employed by the elite.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_arts

[stop the bleeding]

1. Patriot

at least that is what my history books say see founding fathers - effing "libruls"

:patriot:

[bleedingheart]

2. It means you are great in bed

and that is why the GOPers hate us...

:evilgrin:

[RobertSeattle]

3. For right wingers, it is just a strawman

They can interpret "liberal" to be anything they want as long as it can be easily knocked down in an argument.

[Dune]

4. liberal

creative, adaptable, loving, open, soft, evolving, positive, selfless, Christian, servant of others, compassionate, hopeful, wise, teachable, Tao!!!

A Conservative Government is an organized hypocrisy.

[Selatius]

5. I define liberal as this:

1. Somebody who believes in taxing the poor the least while ensuring the wealthy own up to their responsibility to society

2. Somebody who believes that the government could be used for good and the betterment of all such as Medicare/Medicaid, Social Security, Pell Grants, job training programs, public education, public works programs, etc.

3. Somebody who believes in tolerance for differing opinions and different people yet will not tolerate intolerance

4. Somebody who makes a concerted effort to recognize his or her own biases and makes an effort to keep them from clouding fact-based decision-making and fact-based reality

5. Somebody who doesn't believe in cutting taxes for the rich and spending the rest of the country into tremendous debt; somebody who is against a "birth tax" on the unborn

6. Somebody who believes people are inherently good if not imperfect, as opposed to believing all people are inherently selfish, brutish creatures worthy of little more than shackles to keep them in order

7. Somebody who believes in speaking for the truth even when the truth is the most unpopular thing to mention

[flyarm]

6. it means this..quoted from JFK...

What do our opponents mean when they apply to us the label "Liberal?" If by "Liberal" they mean, as they want people to believe, someone who is soft in his policies abroad, who is against local government, and who is unconcerned with the taxpayer's dollar, then the record of this party and its members demonstrate that we are not that kind of "Liberal." But if by a "Liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people -- their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties -- someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a "Liberal," then I'm proud to say I'm a "Liberal."



John Fitzgerald Kennedy





and these are top of my lists..
i use often..


Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.
– Harry S. Truman

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, in a final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.
– Dwight Eisenhower, April 16, 1953

Dissent

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
-- Margaret Mead

When we got into office, the thing that surprised me most was to find that things were just as bad as we'd been saying they were.
– John F. Kennedy

War should never be entered upon until every agency of peace has failed.
– William McKinley, March 4, 1897


The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.
– George Washington, Treaty of Tripoli, 1796

Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law.
– Thomas Jefferson, February 10, 1814

The more I study it , the more I have come to admire it, realizing that no other document devised by the hand of man ever brought so much progress and happiness to humanity.
– Calvin Coolidge, 1929

[Dune]

8. soft

Clarification... soft in the sense that water is soft as it flows over the skin in a clear pool. Hard in the sense that water slaps you arse at 120mph during a belly flop into the Tigris River.

[wicket]

14. Excellent quotes!

:kick:

[OnyxCollie]

7. Liberal as defined by Kenneth Waltz in the 1950's.

I recently did a paper for my political science class on the fourth chapter of Kenneth Waltz's Man the State and War. My right-wing republican military instructor assigned the chapter to us, and surprise! the author explains liberalism and why he feels it's a flawed concept. Actually, the underlying belief that man is generally pretty good, and that states can peacefully coexist is even by my standards unlikely to ever occur. Let's face it. Most people are out to get what's best for them and rarely consider what is best for the group. Consider the plundering of America by the Asshole in Charge and you see how pitiful it is that Joe Sixpack in BFE thinks that the POTUS gives a shit about him. I did find it interesting that taking action to "spread democracy" is listed by the author as a characteristic of "interventionist liberals", so the next time some bushbot gives you shit about being liberal, throw that back at 'em. I must admit, the * regime's decision to decision to launch a preemptive strike to eliminate a hostile government and set up a democracy by which (the state) could become closer to achieving infinite perfectibility and, as a result, coexist in harmony is, on its face, a good thing. Unfortunately, the reality is the "noble deed" is a poorly executed fraud that has cost hundreds of billions of dollars and tens of thousands of lives so some motherfuckers can become even more rich and powerful. Anyway, here's what I wrote:

In chapter four of Kenneth Waltz’s Man the State and War, Waltz examines the internal and external actions of a state, and how these actions may lead to the occurrence of war. The liberal ideology of domestic and international affairs, Waltz argues, is impractical and flawed. This paper will describe liberal ideologies and give reasons why they are faulty.
Liberals believe man is generally good, and in domestic affairs, can be trusted to equitably dispense the profits of labor back into production and distribution. Hard work benefits the individual and in turn, benefits society. “Free-market regulators” would provide the necessary control and government oversight would not be needed. Unfortunately, some people are greedy, and will take advantage of the system to meet their own ends. Hence the need for government control, Waltz argues.
With international relations, the liberal view is that states should provide only a minimum of duties, and that war is only necessary to correct a miscarriage of justice. They believe in a harmony between the states, and that states should seek only that which benefits all. This idyllic view loses focus when interpreting the views of individual policy makers in dictatorships who have their own personal agenda. Democracies then are the preferred form of government to achieve this goal of international harmony.
The error in this reasoning is the assumption that other states will strive to become “infinitely perfectible” and that their actions are representative of the majority of their population, not the minority. By accepting the motivations of others as “good”, one could be left open to an unforeseen attack. Including geography and past history in estimating a state’s proclivity for war is also a dangerous assumption.
Noninterventionist liberals believe that time will correct any imbalances in international affairs. Interventionist liberals feel that action against “bad” governments must take place to achieve peace. This is dangerous in that “just causes” for war are determined by the state making the declaration, and may also be used by the opposing state.
In lieu of war, liberals believe in an international body to arbitrate any conflicts, using international mores and public opinion to maintain peace. This is not unlike today’s United Nations. However, the effectiveness of such a body is called into question when it lacks any army or police to enforce its decisions.
In conclusion, the liberal’s view that man and states will coexist in harmony through the process of attaining “infinite perfectibility” is overly optimistic and utopian. Not all countries are democracies, and not all people are good. Thankfully, the neoconservatives in the current administration have instituted government regulations to curb corporate greed (Enron, big oil), ensured that state’s actions represent and benefit the majority (Dick Cheney, Halliburton), and declared that “just causes” for war do not serve any hidden agendas (oil, revenge). Otherwise, things might be really bad.

“If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator.”

-George W. Bush, December 18, 2000

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/001...

[Bitwit1234]

9. LIBERAL

It also means one who approves change for the better good. It means one who supports the right to choose. I know those two and there is more in the Webster's dictionary.

[AngryAmish]

10. Liberalism comes from the Progressive era

It means that we beleive that the government can solve problems for ordinary people and that the wealthy should be taxed enough so we have a more egalitarian society.

[Ksec]

11. Hopeful, forward thinking and living, discoverers, achievers

Just a few

[Uncle Joe]

12. To the mass corporate media, it means communist, moderate

to them means liberal, conservative means moderate, fascist means conservative, I have no idea what has to be done to be considered fascist to them, maybe World War 3

[Ksec]

13. to the corporate world it means they have to be responsible

And they just hate that.