What does it mean to be a liberal (politically)?

[Dystopia]

To be a conservative means that you are greedy, you are stupid, you find joy in the suffering of others and wish to make it worse, or some combination of those three things.

To be a liberal means to have a conscience and awareness that other human beings have value.

That's true for some conservatives but let's keep to acceptable definitions. You probably wouldn't like it if I said liberals are anti-religion cultural marxist anti-white anti-men bigots - Because it wouldn't be true.

This isn't really about Liberals V conservatives but rather on what means to be a liberal and particularly why do some labels fit liberals.

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Shooting from the hip .. I'd have to say being a liberal means you don't automatically vote to maintain the status quo. You probably also don't take your marching orders from Rush Limbaugh. You may not be a bigot,racist or homophobe. (Of course, if you were a conservative you almost certainly would be all of those things.)

This isn't really a discussion about what parties do, it's a conceptual ideological discussion of what it means to be a liberal politically in any society.

- as a liberal I could keep the status quo if it was correct and just
- I know conservatives who are not any of those things - Additionally I've met black conservatives, gay conservatives, etc. But conservatism isn't necessarily the same as in America

Let's see .. you probably have a pretty fair appraisal of what is in your best interests. (Hint: you are no where near part of the 1% and even winning the lotto won't change that.) As a liberal you are likely to think of government as a tool for the general betterment of all citizens. You probably have a hard time keeping your thinking in any boxes. And you definitely do not recognize the personhood of corporations.

A useful tool, but the ideal society is still the one with less government - Less government is an end, not a means

I recognize the personhood of corporations, companies, associations and other collective groups of people, that's pretty standard to me - In my country every corporation is entitled to legal personhood, but it certainly isn't the same as human being's personhood.

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Seems to me that here in America, classic liberalism has been split up between the Republicans and the Democrats: the Republicans cotton to economic liberalism, while the Democrats cotton to social liberalism.

I was a registered Libertarian for years, and still have strong leanings that way. My sense is that government is clearly necessary, clearly a concentration of power susceptible to corruption and clearly an institution that, while necessary, is not trustworthy.

I reject the current usage of "liberal" as a pejorative, just as I reject "Republicunt", because both those labels strive to demonize dissentients.

So what is a "liberal"? He is an dying species bridging the gap between feudalism and the technocratic dictatorship we're installing. We're a dying breed.

I don't think we are dying, I think atheists are an example of people who will be more likely to be liberal in the future. Of course there are atheist conservatives and often communists/socialists, but there's also many liberals since it's a more moderate position compared to communism and socialism.

I think the difference between a libertarian and a liberal is that the liberal is more moderate when it comes to public authority and state intervention, while still keeping the values of freedom, property and life. Additionally there's many variations of libertarianism (example - socialist libertarianism) or hardcore government abolishing libertarianism mixed with anarchism.

These labels also change with time, the liberals of today can be the conservatives of tomorrow, it's something that has been happening forever.