What is Liberalism anyway?
Depends who you ask! Americans fighting for Independence would have said it is to be free or die trying. France would have it being about a free-market, Canada Trudeau’s government which grew out of reformists.
So what about here in the UK? We had Tories vs Liberals for in some form hundreds of years. The Conservatives evolved from the traditional long-haired, pro-king Cavaliers and the liberals from the short-haired Roundheads.
It has always been a fight of new vs old, tradition vs modernity, looking forward vs looking back, looking inward of our national border vs looking outward.
When Labour came along, it was another shift: to the idea that the people who work drive society, not the parasitic capitalists. This change made the Liberals almost become extict. The last Liberal government in in England was their landslide victory 1906 against the Tories.
In May 2024, it’s more about how authoritarian a party is and how much for social justice vs freedom they are. A libertarian in America would say no to big government, basically a survival of the fittest approach to society. Socialism and Communism are seen as ways to take away your freedoms.
But there’s freedom to and freedom from. For us all to be really free we need to restrain the worst excesses of Capitalism or we’re back to a world of child labour slavery and a life that is, as Hobbes said ‘nasty, brutish and short’ We give up some freedom to gain more. For example, we’ll stop at a Red traffic light so that motorists generally including us don’t get maimed or killed in a car crash.
The chart here on Political Compass shows we the Lib Dems are balanced on societal freedom vs justice/equality. We’re a bit more to the right on Economic policy, so not against personal wealth but not for everyone giving up everything they have.
The compass is constantly moving though and different everywhere you go in the world though. It is not an exact science.