What are the political views of those considered to be liberal?
599121
Depends what kind of liberal you mean (classical, American, etc.)\n\nAny way, it's such a huge answer I would just look it up on wikipedia.\n\nHere are some positions Americans liberals *may* take:\n\n    * A social "safety net" to minimize the suffering due to poverty, including welfare, medicare, unemployment benefits, health insurance, and retirement programs.\n    * Increased government role and funding for public education, public transportation, and alternative energy development.\n    * Increased regulation of business practices through OSHA, child labor laws, anti-trust laws, and minimum wage laws.\n    * Strong, government-protected labor unions\n    * Civil rights, including laws against discrimination based on gender, race, age, religion, sexual orientation, or disability.\n    * Affirmative action and transitional multi-lingual educational programs for children whose first language is not English.\n    * Broad voting rights\n    * Public assistance for undocumented aliens\n    * A spirit of international community and service to all people\n    * A woman's right to an abortion in private and without interference\n    * The right of the terminally ill to end their life\n    * Laws to protect the environment\n    * The elimination of the death penalty\n    * Animal rights\n    * Gun control\n    * A progressive tax system\n    * Marijuana legalization\n    * Advocacy of stem cell research and support of scientific study\n    * Adherence to the principle of separation of church and state\n\n\n\nShould add that Republicans over the last few decades have successfully turned the word "liberal" into a bad wor. So in politics what is and what is perceived to be "liberal" is not so clear.
320976
Here's a wikipedia article that can explain it better than I ever could. In summary, as far as I know, left is more liberal, right is more conservative.
1110600
Though I am not a liberal, I have found that wacko conservatives are more stubborn know it alls than are liberals. Personally, I think both are retarded, but that's just the opinion of a hard line moderate.
747779
Liberals are NOT for democracy--->\nliberals are for getting their agenda in place\nTo get THEIR agenda--->  they buy into lucrative "supporters" ideas, agendas and demands (i.e. gay marriage)..\nMoney is what buys/drives voters \nLiberals appear to want ultimate tolerance for all different folks/lifestyles YET they KNOW that the common public must be managed.\nto provide effective management they desire a socialistic type of government whereby which they will control the masses for their own good...if you don't buy into the xxx idea/program  (i.e.global warming, expensive corn gas ,universal health care where they decide how much Is allowable for a"condition, or what is excluded  based on how much $$ they feel is necessary...\nITS not that they care whether gays can or ever will be accepted as a "normal part of society...they just want their $$$//"support".
765381
Not the mainstream media they are liberal and think any thing a liberal does is okay. Go to Fox News they tell it like it is whether it is a lib or a Republican.
1037465
Since you asked...my definition of "liberal" is one who believes in government sponsored programs designed to provide benefits such as healthcare, financial aid, and education to individuals in low income brackets.  This is accomplished by high tax rates on the upper level income earners.  They profess a belief in a strong middle class, have an aversion to corporations and "big business" and feel that privacy is the most important thing, other than helping the poor.\n\nConservatives are people who believe in business, big and small and feel that the money they earn should be retained by them, not spent on others.  They believe that since the highest income earners are also usually the ones who employ the middle and lower class, they should get a break because without them, there wouldn't be jobs.  Pro-gun, pro-military, agressive foreign policy (shoot first ask questions later).  They also believe in personal liberty, but often see compromises with that liberty as okay when it's for the good of the country.\n\nMe, I'm a Libertarian.  I am definitely more right than left, but I see that conservatives and liberals both have screwed up the government.  Neither one is in touch with anything except their bank accounts and hate.  I think I can stomach the right more because the views are a little more in line with mine and democrats (I'm gonna say it)...are hypocrites.
911821
I love the FACT that genuine liberals (not to be confused with "Democrats") are peace and dignity oriented and do not approve of violence and do not approve of preparations for violence.  \n\nBy my definition, only about fifteen percent of Americans are genuinely liberal: opposing all forms of punitive and oppressive legislation; opposing the death penalty and supporting strong gun control laws. Only about 15 percent. We all tend to appreciate similars over dissimilars, and I am no exception: I love them most!!
932355
Please do not call Democrats "Liberals", they are not true liberals, they are against Property rights, School Choice and the Second Amendment.\nWhat they are is Leftists, they believe in a large central government and the redistribution of wealth.
1067831
The generally accepted definition is that liberals expect government to provide services to all of the citizens, and expect government to protect the freedoms and rights of all citizens.\n\nConservatives generally want less government, which means less government services, less government protection for citizens, and expect citizens to rely only on themselves for their needs and not government.\n\nLook at how the conservative point of view has been corrupted over the past 20 years -- even the Republican platform still states that they believe in less government, yet W has enlarged the government (through the creation of new departments, hiring of employees, etc.) more than any other president since FDR.  Conservatives officially believe in less government spending, yet W has spent more than any president in history, while cutting taxes for the rich so that there is no way to pay for all that spending without borrowing money to run up the biggest deficit in US history.  At the same time he cuts government's services for the needy, he spends our money on defense contractors, needless wars, and incompetent agencies that do nothing to provide any real protection.  "Conservative" has moved away from its original meaning, being taken over by religious fanatics (who want government to do MORE to enforce their own religious rules on all Americans) and by big-money defense/oil companies who want all the government's money but don't want to pay any taxes.\n\nLiberalism has changed as well, though not as dramatically.  Many "visible" liberals today are for everyone's rights except the fundamentalist religions, which they would like to squash.  True liberalism is hard, you need to accept and protect the rights of everyone, even those you don't agree with.  Many current so-called liberals don't live up to that ideal.
52233
In America being a liberal means you think people should have a lot of personal freedoms (abortion, free speech, unions) and that the economy should be closely monitored and modified by the government.\n\nConservatives think that people's freedoms should be more closely monitored and controlled and that the economy should be free from government interference.\n\nNow, this is just what the trend is GENERALLY nowadays, because really the ideals change as time goes on for both types.
384958
Normally, political beliefs are fixed somewhere along a 'spectrum'.\n\nUsually, from an economic perspective, the left is for equality in income: at its extreme, that means the goovernment giving everybody the same salary regardless of their job, at a more moderate level, it means higher taxes for the rich than for the poor. The right would be for less taxation and people earning money on a supply-and-demand principle.\n\nSocially, the left is generally for large government projects aiming to provide equal standards (in education, health, insurance, retirement pensions, etc.) to all people. These are usually centrally operated and require high taxes to maintain. The right believes in trusting private corporations to do this at whatever price they choose.\n\nAgain, socially, the left tends to support 'progressive' ideas like racial equality, immigration, gay marriage, drug decriminalisation, abortion, etc. The right percieves tradition as an important basis for lawmaking, and often is opposed to many of these things.\n\nNot everything can be categorised along a left/right spectrum. Globalisation vs. nationalism, for example: the left used to be more globally-minded than the right; now I'm not sure if that's true. Religiously-motivated politics are often thought of as 'the right', but there are groups like 'Christian socialists' too.
1026341
Log on to http://politicalcompass.jpagel.net/\n\nLiberal has many definitions, just ask Merriam-Webster. But the answer you are looking for is "left-winger" or "socialist".\n\nOn the economic scale, liberals prefer government authority to intervene and engineer the economy, to take private property through taxation and the rights of the individual through regulation, in order to create a more "fair" society. This means if I own a business, and you own nothing, you are somehow entitled to the money I earn.\n\nOn the social scale, liberals prefer less government authority, in other words, they wish to legalize all behavior which is considered to be immoral and is currently illegal. (such as the use of hard drugs, all forms of gambling, all forms of sexual perversion). On the one hand, they like government intervention when it suits thier pocketbook, but they dislike it when the government restricts thier addictive behaviors.\n\nThese definitions may seem to have a conservative bias to them. However, we are only speaking in generalities. There are "liberal" groups which I support, such as People for the ethical treatment of animals (PETA), and non-biased environmentalist groups. I also do not support government regulation of our freedom of speech.\n\nSome would consider the so-called right to be liberal, because conservatives are in favor of the free market, or laizee-faire (sp?) capitalism. They support the right to own private property and engage in private business. Privacy is a very liberal concept, whereas statism (public regulation) is a very communist (authoritarian) concept.\n\nAnd while most conservatives frown on many different kinds of immoral behavior, we all support the presumption of innocence, the right to a fair and speedy trial, the right to an attorney, the right to appeal, the right to a jury of your peers, and all other constitutional rights, which makes us the most progressive people on the planet, unless you consider child pornography or drug abuse "progress" or "enlightened".\n\nThat might help you understand the difference between left-wing authoritarianism and liberalism, as well as the difference between the so-called left and the so-called right.\n\nLiberals, before you attack me, go to the link provided above, and fill out the simple questionaire. On the political spectrum, I am an absolute centrist, not left-winger or a right-winger, nor am I an authoritarian nor a libertarian. Therefore I am neither extremist nor biased.\n\nThere is no such thing as a simple dichotomy between liberals and conservatives. The fact is, the definitions overlap all too frequently to declare one to be completely opposed to the other.\nThere is more to politics than "Democrat good, Republican bad".\n\nIf you are a moderate you support neither extreme liberalism nor extreme communism (they are directly opposed, one supports total freedom, the other total government), which would make you a conservative, which definiton means "moderate" or "rational". I would define conservatism as centrism and objectivism (look it up).\n\nThis does not mean all people who are labeled "conservative" are moderate or rational. There are plenty of theocrats out there who believe that thier view of God and only thier view should be law. There are plenty of "conservatives" who are actually libertarians who want to legalize and deregulate everything, which would be both a disaster for the environment, and for our moral standards.\n\nFootnote:\nIf all you can do is attack me for my opinion, then you are not a liberal, because liberals are supposed to be open-minded and tolerant people. Why so much hatred, then? I don't hate liberals. I just disagree with political extremism on the left and the right.
885797
sure!! a liberal is someone like Abraham Lincoln and JFK and his brother and mlk and Gandhi and john Lennon and the people that assassinated them are all racist conservatives! and assassination is the only way they 'win' arguments! [oh and by the way the greatest liberal is Jesus Christ.... yeah that's right .... prove me wrong!]
1122689
Liberals only think of the present and what they want now. They don't look at the big picture and consider what the consequences\nof their actions and demands will be further down the road.
315652
There is nothing wrond with being liberal, its the opposite of conservative...  Liberal covers the entire left side of the political spectrum - it's generic for people who believe in individualism, freedom, equality, the social contract and rational evidence-based (as opposed to morality-based) public policy but often disagree on the application of these principles.
32899
Classical liberals are also known as liberatians, which have a political party that regularly fields candidates for major political office, including president.\n\nIn a nutshell, classical liberals believe in minimal government, as provided by the US Constitution.  Personal freedom as to peaceful, non-fraudulent activity, both in the social and fiscal realms.  \n\nYou can learn more at the site below, and also take the quiz to learn where you fall in the political spectrum.  The political spectrum is more than just left and right, is is also up and down.  Check it out:
1058470
Liberals identify with Jesus's compassion and the way he was always there to help the poor, the sick, and those without a political voice.  Liberals often claim conservatives don't care about the poor, but in reality conservatives simply believe the poor are better helped through private charities rather than through government programs which are often impersonal and wasteful.