Liberal = Left?

[Thom Harrison]

Somewhere--perhaps in one of Norman F. Cantor's books--I picked up the
notion that "liberal" meant "in favor of a free-market economy" in the early
nineteenth century.  And I thought that was why Milton Friedman went about
proclaiming himself a liberal for awhile, years ago.

Thom

-----Original Message-----
From: James A. Landau [mailto:JJJRLandau at AOL.COM]
Sent: Tuesday, March 19, 2002 1:43 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Liberal = Left?


Ever since the left wing/right wing political metaphor came into existence
in the First French Republic, "liberals" (with or without the capital "L")
have usually been considered a subset of the Left.

However, the following article in Slate (on-line) Magazine has a different
meaning for the noun "liberal":

Did 9/11 Snuff the European Left?
By Anne Applebaum
Updated Tuesday, March 19, 2002, at 9:39 AM PT

<begin quote>
<snip>
center-left governments in Europe are falling. Last spring, Silvio
Berlusconi's Forza Italia swept the Italian general elections. In November,
Danish elections brought economic liberals to power for the first time in 80
years. After elections last weekend, Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, another
economic liberal and admirer of Margaret Thatcher, looked set to become
Portugal's prime minister.
<snip>
Europe wants to emulate America's perceived economic success-which means,
among other things, privatizing, liberalizing, and cutting taxes.
<snip>
<end quote>

Has anyone else observed "economic liberal" or "liberal" meaning advocate of
privatizing industry, cutting taxes, etc?


    - Jim Landau