Reply #226: Which misses the point [View All]

"Liberalism" has a definition based on our ideology. It means little to nothing outside of that context. But any word we choose represents our ideology - we could be whigs, or tories, or greens, or dingleberries. And in the dictionary under "dingle" there will be a definition that goes something like "a political ideology that believes in equal rights and economic fairness, etc....". I'm obviously exaggerating the negative connotation of 'liberal' to make a point, that being, why use "dingle" to represent it?

So that argument is, by definition moot. Nobody is arguing against the principles of liberalism. The discussion is about using the word "dingle" as representative of those principles. Pointing out the inherent rightness of those principles is never going to make the case for maintaining whatever labels represent them.

"Progressive" on the other hand, both perfectly represents what we stand for, in the broader language, and is a great word in and of itself.


Oh, and in those dictionary definitions you posted we see: "An economic theory in favor of laissez-faire, the free market, and the gold standard."

Well doesn't that just sound like progressive ideology.