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As several have pointed out here, "liberal" originally meant "supporting liberty". This is what Friedman means when he calls himself a "liberal". That started to change in the first half of the 1900s when Woodrow Wilson and the two Roosevelts started making laws forcing people to restrict their economic and business activities, and has gotten to the point today where modern "liberals" are more accurately called "totalitarian socialists". Now, when someone says he is a liberal, it's necessary to ask whether he means the original, classical liberal or today's modern totalitarians. The two kinds are completely different from each other.
"Conservative" is actually a term of derision coined by the big-govt people of the early 1900s. Until that time, government had always been a minor function that mostly dealt with other nations, prosecuted criminals, and set measurement and monetary standards. It mostly stayed out of people's private lives and economies unless major wars threatened.
But then the people who wanted bigger, more intrusive government started showing up more and more. Normal people who wanted it to stay small and unimportant in ordinary afffairs, were denigrated as being "afraid to change", and wanting to keep government the same simply for that reason, instead of the truth that they had realized that giving govt power to dictate people's lives was destructive. So they were derisively called "conservative", instead of the more correct "restricted government advocates" they actually were. And the same people are called the same thing to this day.
So "liberal" has undergone a radical transformation, from what it once meant to what it means today; while "conservative" has not changed in a hundred years.
P.S. Some people point to the Republican party as an example of what "conservatives" think and do. But the fact is that many Republicans (including GWB, Romney, Gingrich etc.) are strange mixes of conservative and modern-liberal. The best that can be said for them is that they are not 100% totalitarian socialists, unlike most major members of today's Democrat party.
A conservative starts with reality as it exists and asks, why change? A liberal starts with his raw desires and asks, why not change?
Or we could go with Chesterton's definition:
"The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of the Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected."
A conservative starts with reality as it exists and asks, why change? A liberal starts with his raw desires and asks, why not change?
Or we could go with Chesterton's definition:
"The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of the Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected."
Or you could go with the real definition:
A conservative looks at a proposal and asks, "Has this been tried before? If so, what were the results? If not, is it something regular people and groups CANNOT do? Is it so necessary, that government must step in? And finally, will it yield more benefits than problems?"
A modern liberal looks at a proposal and says, "Sounds good, and I think we can fool people into voting for us if we do it."
As several have pointed out here, "liberal" originally meant "supporting liberty". This is what Friedman means when he calls himself a "liberal". That started to change in the first half of the 1900s when Woodrow Wilson and the two Roosevelts started making laws forcing people to restrict their economic and business activities, and has gotten to the point today where modern "liberals" are more accurately called "totalitarian socialists". Now, when someone says he is a liberal, it's necessary to ask whether he means the original, classical liberal or today's modern totalitarians. The two kinds are completely different from each other.
Fascism was all the rage during the 1920s and particularly the 1930s. It certainly was not isolated to just Europe. Wall Street, and capitalism in general, was largely blamed for the "Great Depression" and both socialism and communism were embraced by many in the US. When socialism and communism fell out of favor during the House Un-American Activity Committee hearings, they registered as Democrats and called themselves "liberal." The new term was propagated by the media during the 1960s, and by the 1990s the Democrats have so abused the term "liberal" it has become a slur. As they did before, they try to hide behind labels that are exactly opposite of what they profess to be, in this case - "progressive."
Quote:
Originally Posted by Little-Acorn
"Conservative" is actually a term of derision coined by the big-govt people of the early 1900s. Until that time, government had always been a minor function that mostly dealt with other nations, prosecuted criminals, and set measurement and monetary standards. It mostly stayed out of people's private lives and economies unless major wars threatened.
But then the people who wanted bigger, more intrusive government started showing up more and more. Normal people who wanted it to stay small and unimportant in ordinary afffairs, were denigrated as being "afraid to change", and wanting to keep government the same simply for that reason, instead of the truth that they had realized that giving govt power to dictate people's lives was destructive. So they were derisively called "conservative", instead of the more correct "restricted government advocates" they actually were. And the same people are called the same thing to this day.
So "liberal" has undergone a radical transformation, from what it once meant to what it means today; while "conservative" has not changed in a hundred years.
"Liberal" has not undergone a radical transformation, it was co-opted by the socialist totalitarians. At least from 1960 through the 1990s. By the mid-1990s the "liberal" Democrats realized they had to change their image, or continue losing elections. After they lost the House, for the first time in 40 years, they began calling themselves "progressives," but we know them to be the very same socialist totalitarians.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Little-Acorn
P.S. Some people point to the Republican party as an example of what "conservatives" think and do. But the fact is that many Republicans (including GWB, Romney, Gingrich etc.) are strange mixes of conservative and modern-liberal. The best that can be said for them is that they are not 100% totalitarian socialists, unlike most major members of today's Democrat party.
The Republican Party of today has become the Democratic Party of the 1960s, and the Democratic Party of today has become al Qaeda's greatest ally. With Boehner, as Speaker of the House, I am not hopeful for a fiscally responsible House.
I do find it interesting how they managed to spend $1.3 trillion more than was budgeted in a single year, but suddenly now requires a decade or longer to balance the budget.
I think there is a disconnect between the two terms in the way different people define them.
For many conservatives, being "liberal" means "liberal" with other people's money.
For many liberals, being "liberal" means being accepting of other people's differing needs.
For many conservatives, being "conservative" means being prudent with other people's money.
For many liberals, being "conservative" means rejecting everyone who is "different" while conserving what has been.
In other words, depending on one's perspective, the focus on these definitions is fundamentally different. For conservatives, the primary focus these days seems to be on economic issues while liberals seem more focused on social issues. Naturally, that does not mean that either group fails to pay attention to other issues - it simply means that the focus of each group is a bit divergent.
Unfortunately, we have all been talked into focusing on our differences and thus, have forgotten that we are really all pulling on the same string...
A conservative is someone who wants to thieve the peoples money for themselves and their friends
A liberal is someone who wants to thieve the peoples money for themselves and their (different set of) friends.
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