Liberal

[ComradeJunichi]

I'm still getting confused with this. So Liberal's care about the government, the poor, and they don't like militarization? And Communists are not part of the Liberal section. And whats neo-liberalism? And the US is not liberal?

[El Brujo]

"Neo-liberalism" refers to libertarian control of the economy or less government control over commerce which is generally a conservative viewpoint. Pinochet, for example was the ultimate neo-libertarian but he was authoritarian in all other aspects, therefore he was of the far-right.

But neo-liberalism is still a flawed word because what conservatives dont realise is that even though there is less government control over the economy, the economy is actually LESS free because its property is privatized to a handfull of people whereas under commnism or socialism everyone owns everything and are free to do whatever they want with all property.

[stick person]

Quote: from ComradeJunichi on 12:30 pm on July 26, 2002
I'm still getting confused with this. So Liberal's care about the government, the poor, and they don't like militarization? And Communists are not part of the Liberal section. And whats neo-liberalism? And the US is not liberal?


Liberal, in the classic sense, refers to support for capitalism. The US, since the late 19th century, has been very liberal in this way. In the current popular sense of the term in the US, liberals are still upholders of capitalism; they simply are willing to use regulations in order to restrict the excesses of the capitalist system so that the workers will remain compliant (this is the real extent of their "care" for the poor). Some "liberals" may be non-militarists, but most are quite accepting of the use of military action to enforce US will. They simply have a slightly different value system than the so-called "conservatives" (who also, in the US, embrace capitalism). Real conservatism, in US terms, would embrace individual subsistence, as this was seen at the nation's founding as the economic model most in keeping with democracy.