Politics: How Liberal Are American Liberals ?

( Drivebycuriosity) - Words have sometimes different meanings in Europe and in the USA. This holds true for the word liberal. In Europe the term stands for liberty and for individual freedom. European liberals are inspired by Adam Smith, Friedrich Hayek & Milton Friedman. Margaret Thatcher was a liberal.

European liberals believe in private property, free speech and self-determination. They don`t trust strong governments, instead they believe in competition and free markets. European liberals endorse low taxes and they disfavor regulation.

The word liberal has a very different meaning in the US. There it stands for the Democratic Party and her supporters. American liberals care less about individual freedom, self-determination and private property. They don´t believe in markets and they don´t trust corporations. Liberals in America prefer strong governments which have the mandate to regulate and to control almost everything. American liberals support high taxes and they endorse taking money from the rich.

Nevada - home of Las Vegas - is maybe the most liberal US state in an European sense. Nevada has relatively low taxes and less regulation then the majority of the US states (regulation). Nevada´s citizens - and visitors - enjoy a lot personal freedom, they are permitted to gamble, to purchase weed, to sell and to buy sex. In the contrary New York State, which belongs to the most liberal states in the US sense, has relative high taxes & strong regulations.

American liberals stand on the left side of the political spectrum. Many leading American liberals support socialist systems and even dictatorships. Liberal Senator Bernie Sanders declared: “These days, the American dream is more apt to be realized in South America, in places such as Ecuador, Venezuela and Argentina, where incomes are actually more equal today than they are in the land of Horatio Alger" (sanders.senate.gov). Former New York`s mayor Bill de Blasio, another liberal, was an advocate of “democratic socialism" and admirer of of Nicaragua’s Sandinista party (observer  nytimes). De Blasio declared “government must focus on the needs of families, must be the protector of neighborhoods and must guard the people from the enormous power of moneyed interests" (observer). And even former President Barack Obama visited Cuba during his presidency and showed his sympathies for the regime.

The majority of the US news papers and online media sites belong to the liberal camp, including New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Atlantic Magazine, The New Yorker and others. Many liberal journalist have an anti-capitalism stance and are obsessed with alleged failures of corporations. Hollywood, a billion dollar industry, produces movies which are usually anti-business, anti-corporation and demonize capitalism. Actor & director Sean Penn, a liberal Hollywood star, described the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez as a Robin Hood of sorts, a revolutionary wonder (foxnews  google). Liberal movie director Michael Moore is also a supporter of the socialist regimes in Cuba & Venezuela (Moore). Liberal American university professors still teach socialist ideas (mises.org). No wonder that the prestigious Carnegie Mellon University celebrated the 200th anniversary of Karl Marx`s birthday (carnegie  academia).

PS On top of this post I use a map I found on Wikipedia which summarizes US election results since 2004. States where the "liberals" won all 4 elections are deep-blue ( wikimedia).