Questions tagged [liberalism]

Questions related to liberalism which is a political philosophy or worldview founded on ideas of liberty and equality.

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
47 votes
5 answers
270k views

What is the difference between liberalism and libertarianism?

According to wikipedia Liberalism (from the Latin liberalis) is a political philosophy or worldview founded on the idea of liberty and equality. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on ...
Fela's user avatar
  • 1,692
26 votes
4 answers
4k views

When and how did the term "liberal" acquire a leftist/socialist meaning in the US?

Some comments on another question show confusion over the definition of “liberal”: @Eva, still going to have the same problems. For example, what is the liberal position on economic ...
dan04's user avatar
  • 4,252
32 votes
9 answers
7k views

Why are democracy and liberalism correlated?

For the purposes of this question, let me (loosely) define: Democracy = situation where the government is chosen by the population (using some ‘reasonable’ voting rule) Liberal state = state which ...
afreelunch's user avatar
20 votes
8 answers
15k views

How did the term "Liberal" become "Progressive"?

Democrats and similar left affiliations used to be known universally as liberals. In recent years, I've heard them referred to as progressives. Why the change? Are liberals and progressives ...
tsilb's user avatar
  • 311
20 votes
2 answers
2k views

How do Russians [especially Russian Muslims] understand Putin's disapproval of 'multiculturalism'?

The BBC has reported that, at the G20 summit, Russia's president Vladimir Putin remarked that liberalism is obsolete. Which should be no surprise to anyone. The curious part of this criticism of ...
user avatar
11 votes
5 answers
1k views

Have Democrats gotten more liberal?

I'm a bit surprised by this Brookings Institute report on polarity showing Democrats becoming more liberal, though at one fourth the rate at which Republicans are becoming more conservative. The ...
xan's user avatar
  • 273
7 votes
2 answers
370 views

Can copyright be interpreted as a liberal economic policy?

Note: This question refers to liberal as in Liberalism, not as in American Liberalism! As copyright is considered a state-guaranteed monopoly for the creators of works, could it be considered a true ...
Sven Clement's user avatar
  • 5,383
4 votes
3 answers
688 views

Has there been a sustained period of conservatism in the US?

It seems to me the United States has generally become more liberal (by the modern American definition) over time. It has more civil rights, taxation, welfare, secularism, and government programs now ...
Eva's user avatar
  • 149
65 votes
13 answers
20k views

Why are Weapon Restriction Laws considered Liberal?

Why are Weapon Restriction Laws, such as Gun Control Laws, considered liberal, while a lack of restrictions is considered conservative? In most cases, it appears that laws and policies which grant ...
Southpaw Hare's user avatar
30 votes
7 answers
5k views

Is it a fundamental tenet of liberalism to allow the expression of illiberal ideals?

In recent years, the US has seen a rise in a priori rejection or "cancelling" of illiberal ideas on the left. In essence, these ideas are being rejected from mainstream liberal society ...
DerekG's user avatar
  • 1,188
27 votes
5 answers
7k views

What is this political cartoon by Bob Moran titled "Amnesty" about?

I saw that Bob Moran made this political cartoon that he posted on Twitter: When I first saw this cartoon, I assumed it was poking fun at the "False Balance" AKA "bothsidesism" ...
Nova's user avatar
  • 451
27 votes
8 answers
6k views

Why do many liberal countries criminalize polygamy? [duplicate]

Polygamy is a crime in many liberal countries (such as all 27 countries of the European Union). It is theoretically victimless, however. Why then would a liberal country criminalize it? Things I can ...
Allure's user avatar
  • 34.3k
12 votes
15 answers
7k views

Why is the modern left defending Islam(ism)?

This might sound like a loaded question, but it isn't. We see left and right that present day leftists (progressives, liberals, etc.) are jumping in to defend Islam(ism) from legitimate critiques as ...
amphibient's user avatar
  • 1,787
12 votes
4 answers
2k views

Why do many liberal countries criminalize incest?

Many/most liberal countries have legalized homosexuality. Presumably one of the main reasons for doing so is that consensual sex between two adults ought not to be a crime, because there is no victim. ...
Allure's user avatar
  • 34.3k
7 votes
1 answer
689 views

Are there systematic personality differences between liberals and conservatives?

What personality differences are there between registered Democrats and registered Republicans?
user4681's user avatar
7 votes
7 answers
6k views

Why are American liberals more prone to in-fighting than conservatives? [closed]

In America at least, there tends to be far less unity within liberal factions when compared to conservative ones. One just has to point to the last few presidential elections. 2008: There was a ...
SmartBulbInc's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
336 views

What are the origins of non-aggression politics within liberalism?

Non-aggression politics plays a significant role in liberalism as a broad tradition. It appears to be central to the revival of Manchester School politics in the United States under the name "...
Samuel Russell's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
140 views

What is the theoretical content of the terms used in non-aggression discourse within liberal politics?

The complexity of non-aggression politics within liberalism is obvious: liberalism defends private property which is widely (but not universally) considered to be an act of violence by other political ...
Samuel Russell's user avatar
1 vote
4 answers
692 views

Is California more liberal than Vermont?

I was thinking about why California is more liberal, or at least more Democratic than Vermont. Here are a bunch of reasons that are strongly correlated with liberalism in the US. Demographic reasons: ...
Michael Mormon's user avatar