Continuing in response to Ephraim’s question, “What is the basic principle behind your ‘liberalness’.”
Liberal is defined as “favoring proposals for reform, open to new ideas for progress, and tolerant of the ideas and behavior of others; broad-minded.”
That being the definition, I’ve never quite understood how the L-word came to be an epithet. After all, the opposite of liberal then is “opposed to proposals for reform, closed to new ideas for progress, and intolerant of the ideas and behavior of others; narrow-minded.” Given that choice, call me liberal every time.
It was people who are closed to new ideas for progress, and intolerant of the ideas and behavior of others; narrow-minded, who turned the L-word into an epithet.
But it’s lost some of the sting lately so now socialist is their new buzzword.