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I've always been curious if the internationalization of political discussion was behind the changing definitions of the word "liberal" in US politics. In the 1
by nrook 7y ago
I've always been curious if the internationalization of political discussion was behind the changing definitions of the word "liberal" in US politics.
In the 1990s, "liberal" was used as a synonym of "leftist"; a "liberal" politician would support expanding the welfare state, for example. My understanding is that the European definition of "liberal" is different, and implied a light touch in business affairs; the Economist is a "liberal" publication.
In 2019, this definition has spread to the United States as well; members of the Democratic Socialists of America don't identify as liberal. The European definition is only used in some circles: conservatives tend to stick to the old definition, and would describe somebody like Bernie Sanders as "liberal". I was always curious if this was because US political activists were talking to European ones on sites like Twitter, or Internet forums before it.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- dragonwriter 7y ago> I've always been curious if the internationalization of political discussion was behind the changing definitions of the word "liberal" in US politics. No. > In the 1990s, "liberal" was used as a synonym of "leftist" The early 1990s was the height of what was then referred to as the “neoliberal consensus” in US politics, and the liberal in neoliberal is exactly the same sense you are trying to sell as uniquely European (but which is really just economic.) > In 2019, this definition has spread to the United States as well; members of the Democratic Socialists of America don't identify as liberal. The DSA has been around for a long time, and it's members have never identified as liberal. “Liberal” was only ever equated with “Leftist” in conservative propaganda. Though for a long time in the US, both the major parties were dominated by economic liberals, so economic liberals that were socially liberal were “liberals” and economic liberals that were socially conservative were “conservatives”.