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Politics : CD's Incoherent Ramblings and Politics for Dummies Thread
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To: koan who wrote (48)10/19/2007 7:33:09 PM
From: LoneClone  Read Replies (1) of 361
 
An American dictionary, right?

Seriously, koan, in the the parlance of political science and philosophy and in the rest of the world besides the US, the term "neo-liberal" refers to the likes of Reagan, Thatcher, and Mulroney and their attempts at deregulation and reducing taxes. This is correct usage because they are reviving the ideas of the prototypical liberals in England, who wanted to free people from the arbitrary control of the state.

This is reflected in the term "liberal democracy", which refers to a state where, rather than the whims of an authoritarian ruler, people are subject to the rule of law as created by democratically elected politicians and interpreted by the courts.

In the US the terms conservative and liberal are all mixed up with social issues, leading to all sorts of confusion. What do you call a United Statian politician who wants to cut taxes and deregulate -- i.e. by definition a neo-liberal -- but is not against abortion or all het up about crime? I guess they would be a neo-liberal liberal, while if they were against abortion and tough on crime they would be a neo-liberal conservative!

And I repeat my original question. Why should the rest of the world conform to American usage rather than the other way around? There are a heck of a lot more of us than there are of you.

LC
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