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Everyone Was a Liberal
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Everyone Was a Liberal

On the Left, ‘neoliberal’ is an epithet but, not long ago, everyone wanted to be liberal. Will anyone claim liberalism?

Lawrence Glickman
Aeon, 2016
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In this dissection of a common and often-times conflicting term in the United States’ political history’s lexicon, author and professor Lawrence Glickman explores in detail the term “liberalism.” Glickman explains how both Republicans and Democrats have at one time or another claimed themselves to be liberals. He further describes the role, response and current status of the word. getAbstract recommends this analysis to anyone who wants to dive deeper into how definitions change in American politics.

Take-Aways

  • In 1947, the Los Angeles Times described the traditional meaning of “liberalism” as the belief “in the greatest possible freedom and consequently the least possible government.”
  • Former US president Franklin D. Roosevelt and supporters of the New Deal adopted the term “liberalism” to describe the state’s responsibility to provide for its citizens.
  • Critics introduced the term “neoliberal” to label New Dealers as something akin to socialists.

About the Author

Lawrence Glickman, PhD, is a history professor at Cornell University. His is the author of Buying Power: A History of Consumer Activism in America and A Living Wage: American Workers and the Making of Consumer Society.

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