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Friedman Fundamentals Discussion

Liberal, Classical Liberal, Libertarian
What changed the meaning of “liberal” over time?

Responses

Lots of words/terms change meaning over time. Liberal changed, I think, to mean ease up on restrictions, Such as the LGBT and abortion ‘rights’. Doesn’t matter that these same individuals now seem to want more government restrictions in order to ‘liberally’ spread the wealth. Sad.

Lots of words/terms change meaning over time. Liberal changed, I think, to mean ease up on restrictions, Such as the LGBT and abortion ‘rights’. Doesn’t matter that these same individuals now seem to want more government restrictions in order to ‘liberally’ spread the wealth. Sad.

The same thing that changed liberal from "inclusive" to "neo-socialist" changed conservative from "not wasteful" to "greedy": political name-calling aimed at attaching as much stigma to the other side's tags as possible. I attended a conference where the keynote speaker was the city's best-known newscaster and in-demand public speaker/master of ceremonies. She said that the language of the news casts is typically dumbed down to fifth-grade level because the viewing audience generally comprehend at about that level. Now THAT's sad. It tells me that our politicians will continue to behave like fifth-graders because that's what they're dealing with.

The people's understanding and desire for government roles in our lives help to change the meaning of liberalism over time. The people wanted more help from the government to maintain stability in our everyday life—They wanted more government control and government help.

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