Liberalism (from the Latin
liberalis, "of freedom")
[1] is the belief in the importance of
liberty and
equal rights.
[2] Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but most liberals support such fundamental ideas as
constitutionalism,
liberal democracy,
free and fair elections,
human rights,
capitalism,
free trade, and the
freedom of religion.
[3][4][5][6][7] These ideas are widely accepted, even by political groups that do not openly profess a liberal
ideological orientation. Liberalism encompasses several
intellectual trends and traditions, but the dominant variants are
classical liberalism, which became popular in the eighteenth century, and
social liberalism, which became popular in the twentieth century.
Ron Paul is a classical liberal. Libertarians are classical liberals. Most Americans are classical liberals. The Democrat leadership is social liberals. The GOP is more or less half classic liberal and half conservative.
Classical Liberalism = Freedom in every aspect of our lives, limited government
Modern Liberalism = Freedom in our personal lives, but bondage in our financial lives.
GOP Liberalism = Freedom in our financial lives, but bondage in our personal lives.
People only support GOP and Modern Liberalism when you make it vague. When asked about their exact beliefs regarding their own lives they are almost always classical liberals. The reason they don't vote that way is really because the main leaders are bastards.
Liberals - Do you think that your neighbor should be able to take half of your stuff if he has nothing?
Conservative - Do you think that your neighbor should be allowed to tell you how to live your life?
The only people that will answer, and vote their ideals are the Libertarians. Everyone else is just picking from 2 sides that are fatally flawed. I look at the Republicans with as much disdain as I look at the Democrats.
Libertarians are not right-wing any more than they are left-wing. They have half of the beliefs of one side, and half of the beliefs of the other. They are centrists. Half of the country approves of half the libertarian message, the other half approves of the other half of the libertarian message. Wouldn't that make the Left and the Right extremists since the entire message is repulsive to the other side? Ron Paul votes what he believes in regardless of party. I think if he makes it to the general election that he will do to Obama what Obama did to McCain. Except we all know Ron Paul won't immediately renege and do exactly what he said he wouldn't do like Obama has. We have 40 years of proof of that.