'liberal' 'liberty' "liberalis" why are so many americans against it?

Something I've never understood is why alot of american people, when talking about politics and other things, use the word 'liberals' pritty much as an insult, or talk about 'liberals' asif its a bad thing?

The word liberal is derived from the latin word liberalis wich is in english liberty, and in french libert�.

liberalis, liberty, libert�, mean 2 things, being free and being generous.

The americans on one side praise their freedom, preech the rest of the world about their liberty and free for all country.

Yet when the word liberal is used, they shun it, talk of it asif its something bad. Use it as an insult whenever an idea, movie, speech or whatever comes about that isn't directly to their liking and reflects their own idea's.

What I understand from the political side of 'liberal' in america is that the liberal party's are progressive parties, that have a main focus on the protection of the peoples liberty's and rights and the development of the nation towards better social security and care for everyone.

So, my question again, why is the word "liberal" used as a cussword or an insult? While its actual meaning is what america is supposed to be about?

[edit on 19-7-2004 by thematrix]

my view is that what is meant is ;liberterian; not the definition of a liberal. the word liberal sounds alot like liberterian but there are so far from being the same it is laughable. i think 'liberterian' is what America was when it started. not the big govt., govt programs for every conceivable problem that is what is known as liberal now. just my 2cents

"liberal" in its modern context refers to, like you said, progressive ideals. Generally someone is classified as "liberal" if they believe in strict fiscal policies and loose personal policies. A person is "conservative" if they believe the opposite.

"liberal" in its classical sense is the idea of pure liberty - freedom from nearly all government control. Libertarianism is often referred to as "classic liberalism."

The libertarian, or "classical liberal," perspective is that individual well-being, prosperity, and social harmony are fostered by "as much liberty as possible" and "as little government as necessary."

(www.libertarian.org...)

Ok, so if I get it right:

believe in strict fiscal policies and loose personal policies

Means that they want to see more strict control on the fiscal side of things, meaning that financial and fiscal fraudulent behaviour by people who actualy have money would be better controlled, while in general, people have all the freedom in the world.

Isn't that exactly what everyone supposedly wants and what america is about?
The only people that wouldn't want that is the miniscule percentage of rich folks that want as lil as posible fiscal and financial control and as little as posible freedoms for the normal people.

So how on earth did they get to have these normal people who normaly all want a 'liberal' world say the exact opposite and blindly support the people that want them to have as litle as posible freedoms and money?

"Fiscal" encompass a wide range of policies, but basically includes anything involving money. Welfare, social security, tariffs, and education can all be considered fiscal. A liberal believes that government should have full control over these. Americans are not free to choose what social programs to support; we must pay taxes to cover social security, welfare, Medicare, education, etc. The government decides what specifically this money should go towards. A conservative or libertarian believes that people should be free to decide where their money goes. That's the difference.

So why do many Americans see liberalism as "evil?" Fiscal freedom is a cornerstone of a successful capitalist society, so anything that restricts how people use their money could be seen as anti-capitalist. America is obviously based upon capitalist principles, so this leads many conservatives and libertarians to equating liberalism with anti-Americanism.

I hope that makes sense. One question: why is this in RATS?

Along these lines...I saw a GREAT bumper sticker today. It said,

"I wasn't using my civil liberties anyway."

Originally posted by PurdueNuc
A liberal believes that government should have full control over these. Americans are not free to choose what social programs to support; we must pay taxes to cover social security, welfare, Medicare, education, etc. The government decides what specifically this money should go towards. A conservative or libertarian believes that people should be free to decide where their money goes. That's the difference.
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I hope that makes sense. One question: why is this in RATS?

Answer to bottom part, to avoid flames and of topic bable(no points to be earned in here) and to pull in the people in rats, that are normaly prone to have a deeper understanding of the political inner workings and generaly have more inteligable contributions.

Second, the full govermental control over Welfare, social security, tariffs, and education are a fact here in belgium too, and noone has a problem with it here. The people have a solid input in it, mutuality's, unions, pension funds, schools and all the other things that get money from the goverment get this according to how many members they have. Like this, the people have pritty much a pure input into this.

I have to say though, belgium is a country of 10 million people, so it might be a lil easyer to run a system like this succesfully for us, then it would be for the US.

So because of that, maybe I can't understand why the american people are so against the liberal view, because it actualy works here.

Or otherwise, the good american people are just discarding the general idea behind what liberals want, just because of the idea that this seems anti capitalist, while it actualy supports all they stand for. Freedom with a serious goverment having their backs in a time of need.

[edit on 19-7-2004 by thematrix]