3 ms·

The sad part is that the word "Libertarian" used to mean someone that was in favour of equality and socialism. Someone who was actually liberal.

• th 15y ago
  I've never heard about the change of meaning in this word. Could you provide a source for that fact?
  • randallsquared 15y ago
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarian_socialism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarian_socialism says, in part, The first person to describe himself as a libertarian was Joseph Déjacque, an early French anarchist communist. The word stems from the French word libertaire, and was used to evade the French ban on anarchist publications. In this tradition, the term "libertarianism" in "libertarian socialism" is generally used as a synonym for anarchism, which some say is the original meaning of the term; hence "libertarian socialism" is equivalent to "socialist anarchism" to these scholars. In the context of the European socialist movement, libertarian has conventionally been used to describe those who opposed state socialism, such as Mikhail Bakunin. In the United States, the movement most commonly called libertarianism follows a capitalist philosophy; the term libertarian socialism therefore strikes many Americans as a contradiction in terms.
  • cheez 15y ago
    "Classic liberal" vs "Modern liberal". It's a really bad co-opting but normal.
• randallsquared 15y ago
  ...and "liberal" used to refer to what we now call "(U.S.) libertarian".