I don't like to use the word liberal because it has a different meaning in all the other countries.
It makes it more difficult to dialog internationally.
These are all liberal political parties:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_International
So that's what liberal means in most of the world, and it's not really the politics I subscribe to...
People worldwide associate liberalism with defending capitalism.
I haven't called myself a liberal for about 20 years now because I think liberals support free trade agreements like NAFTA, GATT, WTO, PNTR-China, etc. etc.
There's so much disagreement over what it actually means, and that's part of what makes it challenging to use.
It's not a dirty word it's just that people think liberal means something, and they disagree with that thing.
I think most of us have seen this poll by now.
http://www.people-press.org/2011/12/28/little-change-in-publics-response-to-capitalism-socialism/
I dislike labels. But if I must have a label, I want one that stands for defending labor, environmental protection, consumer protection, class consciousness, anti-fascism, solidarity, economic justice, health and welfare for all the people, blah blah blah.
I don't really think the word "liberal" fits that description. I agree with liberals on a lot of things though.
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