Democracy is a derivative of classical liberalism, and the core ideas of classical liberalism are rooted in Individualism, which spawned the Renaissance.

Without the Renaissance we're still in the dark ages; Neoliberalism is trying to send us back there with its regressive, authoritarian ideals.

I think your problem is with the fact that liberalism can cover two things: fiscal liberalism (i.e. little regulation and high market freedom, typically associated with the Republican Party) and social liberalism (i.e. strong regulation for social justice, progressiveness towards LGBT, abortion etc. Typically associated with the Democratic Party).

When non-Americans (or literature older than a decade or two) talk about liberalism, they often mean the former.
When Americans talk about liberalism these days, they usually mean the latter.

It would be nice if people would be more specific when talking about liberalism, but usually it can be derived from the context anyway.

social liberalism
strong regulation for social justice

you do realise how much of a contradiction that is for everyone with the classic definition of liberalism in mind

would be nice if social justice warriors could stop selling their oppressive agenda as "liberal"

Confusing or not, it is what it is. It's not just SJWs who do it; everyone in the USA does it.

When I started frequenting PaRD I also had to get used to people saying socialism is liberalism, while those two terms are the exact opposite if you use the classical definitions.

right/right center, because the only problem with socialism as Margaret Thatcher said “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”

Centrist/moderate. Still more fiscally conservative than people who call themselves conservative.

Socially I'm as liberal as they come.

Economically , I'm moderate or current policies but things like energy/internet should be nationalized to some degree which makes me a filthy statist.

I'm pro union.

I think taxes are generally fine where they are at , and maybe the bigger issue is companies being let off the hook for the taxes they get out of paying through offshore accounts etc.

I support single payer healthcare. Pragmatic belief for the most part , other countries have same quality of care and don't have the same financial problems we do with it. Think it's time to remove the insurance companies from the equation.

So maybe center left or centrist but clearly lean left. I'll never vote for Republicans as long as they remain to be socially conservitards. I could potentially stomach Libertarians since at least socially we'd see eye to eye with letting people live their lives as long as they aren't harming anyone else. But there's no point in supporting a party that is socially conservative.

This post was edited by sir_lance_bb on Jan 17 2018 07:52am

there's another problem where sensible people lean left on some issue and right on other issues

Why? It's not like the Supreme Court is ever going to overturn Roe or Obergefell. I support overturning those decisions but I plan on voting Democrat for the foreseeable future.

Not holding opinions so that you can pretend to be above it all