Liberal = Left?

[Clark Whelton]

Political conservatives are usually "liberal" (i.e. opposed to government
regulation) when it comes to free trade, tariffs and open markets.

Political liberals are frequently conservative (i.e. they favor  the status
quo) on the question of  free trade.  Recent demonstrations against free
trade and the global marketplace have been organized by political leftists
and liberals.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Thom Harrison" <THarriso at MAIL.MACONSTATE.EDU>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, March 19, 2002 2:22 PM
Subject: Re: Liberal = Left?


> 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
>