Can anyone here give me a good thorough definition of Liberalism?
Liberalism doesn’t have a good current definition. I’ll do the best I can though. Historically and everywhere but the United States, liberalism refers to free-market policies of Capitalism (but not as far right as being anarcho-capitalism). Liberalism in the United States now-a-days has its closest ancestor in what historians might call the Liberal Consensus that grew out of the Great Depression. The Liberal Consensus was based on some basic agreements between the nature of government, labor and business. Business would accept some higher taxes, greater worker compensation and more regulation by the government. In return, labor would try to be peaceable. Government would be the arbiter, provide social safety nets and other services and try to maintain the stability of the market. The liberal consensus collapsed when stagflation set in the 70s. During the liberal consensus, both major parties basically agreed on everything. Republicans only major difference was that they did not want to
Your question is really broad because there are several types of liberalism, most commonly known liberalism are classical and social. I consider myself a centrist social libertarian who is culturally liberal, so I will focus on the aspect of liberalism with which I am most familiar – cultural. Cultural liberalism entails protecting the liberty of individuals, including: freedom of religion, speech, press, and assembly, with government intervention if necessary. Marriage should be left up to individuals (i.e. gay marriage should be legalized) and laws against “victimless crimes” should be repealed. This would entail things such as the legalization of drugs as well as the legalization of prostitution. Cultural liberalism should not be confused with social liberalism, which supports a government role with respect to economic issues (i.e. Keynesian economics) as well as social issues like unemployment, health care, education, and welfare. Both social and cultural liberals would generally b
Liberalism, from a political viewpoint, is a difficult definition because it means different things in different cultures/countries. American Liberalism (in politics) is to the left in the center-right spectrum, whereas European Liberalism is to the actual left of right-wing politics. It is generally applied to the Democratic Party, as well as several minor national parties. In America it is falsely identified as Socialism/Marxism, and the result of this misconception is that many people (as evidenced in the very answers posted here) will use these terms interchangeably as though they are one and the same. They are not. What most liberals adhere to is not a hope in Capitalism’s destruction, but a more regulated market – i.e. state capitalism. This is not Socialism in its truest, theoretical form by any means. Today’s American liberals still mostly hold some form of faith in the nation’s electoral process, and believe in the potential for the Democratic Party to be, well, democratic. Th
