See, to the informed, liberal means someone who follows the liberal capitalist school of thought, typically associated with the Austrian school.
To absolute fucking morons, it means “people I have been told I don’t like”
This is why constructive conversation is tough
I mean, liberal, in broad definition, means a person believing in liberalism - that the liberty of people should not be infringed unless it’s absolutely necessary (like you can forfeit your right to liberty if you kill someone or steal something)
It doesn’t include Hitler either; I am not stating it does. I am a liberal however one that supports more left wing policies (like pro minorities policies like ban of conversation therapy, equal marriage and easying the procedures for transitioning, as well as supporting union rights, strong social nets, welfare and strong safety regulations and worker rights) while believing that the state should justify all intrusion of personal liberty and keep some sort of reasonably regulated, yet free market in place.
There’s three types of liberal:
- politically liberal (means you can say what you want)
- economically liberal (means your company can do what it wants)
- socially liberal (means you can love who you want)
typically, it’s important to distinguish which types we’re talking about. An economic-liberal is sometimes also called a neo-liberal, and does typically not help social wellbeing.
The Fascists have been burning this country down since Reagan.
The Neoliberals have been refilling their flamethrowers.
The United States has no major party that protects the people from the oligarch capitalist’s greed. Trump isn’t the cause of that, merely a symptom of it. Without the Kemp/Reagan trickle down grift, and it’s furtherance by both parties ever since in exchange for bribes, Donnie would still be wasting daddy’s money on real estate scams.
Maher is famously not such.
Wikipedia for ignorant people
