American liberalism

American liberalism (also called modern liberalism) is a political current which claims descent from classical liberalism in terms of devotion to individual liberty, but generally rejects the laissez faire economics of classical liberalism in favor of institutions that promote social and economic equity. It is generally seen as beginning in the first decades of the 20th century, and achieving a political hegemony in the New Deal years that began to decline in the 1970s.

Some positions associated with American liberalism

In the early 21st century, the term "liberalism" in the United States has been applied to a broad spectrum of viewpoints. As the Democratic Party, generally seen as the standard-bearer of liberalism, adopted the more centrist outlook of the DLC, the term "liberal" (applied to the party as a whole) became associated even with more centrist candidates and issues who, for example, support the death penalty or take pro-business positions. For this reason, and because many on the right have so heavily used "liberal" as a pejorative, some Americans on the left of the political spectrum have moved to progressivism.

Related Topics:
21st century - Death penalty - Progressivism

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Some Americans define liberals as those who support the use of government to promote equality.

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The following views are associated with American liberalism, though many people who consider themselves liberal would accept some of these views and reject others:

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• Support for government social programs such as welfare, medical care, unemployment benefits, and retirement programs.
• Support for increased funding for public education.
• Support for trade unions, teachers' unions, and government protections for organized labor.
• Regulation of business - OSHA, against child labor, monopolistic practices, etc.
• Support for civil rights:
• Support laws against discrimination based on gender, race, age, religion, sexual orientation, or disability.
• Support laws guaranteeing rights of women and minorities, particularly racial and religious minorities, the disabled, and homosexuals.
• Support for such programs as affirmative action and transitional multi-lingual educational programs for children whose first language is not English.
• Support broad voting rights.
• Support for the legality of abortion.
• Support for strong environmental regulations.
• Support for public transit.
• Support for minimum wage requirements.
• Support for government funding to alternative energy research.
• Opposition to the death penalty.
• Support for animal rights – as an issue of ethical human behavior.
• Support for gun control.
• Support for a progressive tax system.

Contemporary use of "liberal" as a pejorative by political opponents

In a concerted effort to distort the meaning of liberalism in the political arena, many conservatives, especially in the right-wing media, use the term liberal as a synonym for the etymologically similar word "libertine." When used in this politically-motivated sense, it implies an overly free-spirited, unaccountable, and compromised character or someone in favor of vast and needless government intrusion into peoples lives (see Big government).

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In the 1960s, the catch phrase was "bleeding heart" liberals, who opposed the war in Vietnam or "nigger-loving" liberals who opposed integration. In the 1980s, the catch phrase was "knee-jerk" liberals, implying that now that Blacks could vote and the war in Vietnam was over, people were only liberal out of habit. In the 1990s, the phrase was "tax-and-spend" liberals, with the implication that liberals were in favor of taxing the rich in order to provide welfare for the lazy and good-for-nothing poor. Starting in the years leading up to the 2000 US presidential election, Carl Rove made a concerted effort to have the phrase "liberal liars" repeated as often as possible, with the implication that anything liberals said about the qualifications of George W. Bush was a lie, and could be safely ignored. Republican talk radio personality Rush Limbaugh is often credited with the perpetuation of these phrases. (See also Politicized issues, propaganda). Republican political consultant Arthur J. Finkelstein took this technique to its fullest extent, repeating the word "liberal" in negative television commercials as frequently as possible, such as in this mid-1990s example:

Related Topics:
1960s - 1980s - 1990s - 2000 - Carl Rove - Talk radio - Rush Limbaugh - Politicized issues - Propaganda - Arthur J. Finkelstein

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:That's liberal. That's Jack Reed. That's wrong. Call liberal Jack Reed and tell him his record on welfare is just too liberal for you.

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U.S. conservatives in recent years, often those of the Republican Party, sometimes use liberal as an adjective for anyone who is a member of or supports any policy of the Democratic Party.

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These campaigns by conservatives were successful enough to leave the 2000 election too close to call, and in a five-to-four decission, the US Supreme Court decided the election in favor of George W. Bush. In the debates leading up to the 2004 presidential election, George W. Bush called his opponent, John Kerry, "the most liberal man in the Senate".

Related Topics:
2000 - 2004 - John Kerry

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http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/news/9610/10/karl.finkelstein/index.shtml

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