[Jimjam]

I have a colleague from a relatively privileged background in middle England asked why ‘liberal’ is used as a dirty word in the states.

He is confused how the dictionary definition of liberal (social welfare, freedoms, open business) could be a bad thing in the country of liberty.

I’m lucky enough to had the opportunity to witness discussion from such honourable ‘lib hatin merkins’ as populate the p99 game and boards so did my best to offer an answer:

“Personally, I believe in the value of social programs. Not particularly due to morale or welfare arguments, but because I believe they are effective economic investments.

However, I feel many people that support such programs can be a little tone deaf or condescending (“why can’t people against these programs see they would be better off”) and fail to understand why someone that would benefit from it could be against it.

I’m involved in a computer game community which happens to include a good number of rural Americans, people that I never would have normally been able to converse with.

From my discussions with them, and from my knowledge of the emotional effects of unemployment from my company partner’s doctorate, these people are not interested in being financially better off due to social hand outs. They want real employment and economic opportunities, similar to how there used to be industrial and agricultural opportunity previously in the states. They don’t want to be non-contributors dependant on subsidies from blue city taxes. They want to be independent and in control of their lives.

For this reason, rightly or wrongly, they conflate liberal social welfare with a suppression of their ability to support themselves as individuals.”

I hope i put forward a decent, good faith representation for at least some ‘lib haters’ and was hoping you can either call me out if i am totally off the mark, or provide additional reasoning why some view ‘lib’ as a dirty word.

Please keep it civil and clean.