liberal politics
Reform-favoring political stance
Liberal politics in the United States refers to positions generally associated with the Democratic Party: support for government programs addressing inequality, environmental regulation, expanded civil rights, and social tolerance.
The term has shifted over time; classical liberalism emphasized individual liberty and limited government, closer to modern libertarianism.
In American usage, liberal often functions as the opposite of conservative: She comes from a family with liberal politics.
Critics use the term dismissively: typical liberal politics.
- healthcare reformChanges to medical systems
- EnlightenmentEra prioritizing reason over dogma
- freedomAbsence of constraint
- free speechProtected verbal liberty
- racial justiceFairness regardless of ethnicity
equality · labor rights · Progressive Era · social progress · democracy · individual rights · LGBTQ+ rights · public education · pluralism · big tent · welfare programs · living wage · tax the rich · gun control · human dignity · tolerance · immigration reform · open borders
- Taisho Japanmodern girl, Ginza, Tokyo Station, cafe culture, suffrage movement
liberal politicsconservatism
Preference for existing institutions
conservative politics · traditionalism · social conservatism · paleoconservatism · neoconservatism
liberal politicsauthoritarianism
Concentrated, unchecked governmental power
totalitarianism · illiberalism · fascism · autocracy · dictatorship
liberal, politics, liberalism, liberalize, liberalization, liberally, illiberal, liberty, liberate