Liberal is a political term that has a number of meanings, depending on context.
- Europeans typically use the term to describe politics that draw on classical liberalism's basic touchstone of the free individual operating in a free market economy, a notion similar to modern libertarianism.
- In the United States, however, the word is typically used to describe politics on the left side of the political spectrum, and has been used by the GOP as a synonym for socialist. This is partially due to their use of bullshit scare tactics and partially a legacy from the second Red Scare, when some people with communist sympathies, not wanting to state their affiliation openly, called themselves "liberals" or "progressives" instead.
When talking about social issues, "liberal" is usually applied to people who favor fewer restrictions on the individual's right to choose how to live her or his life. Thus liberals tend to support such things as gay marriage and reproductive freedoms, such as abortion and birth control.
 See also
- Conservative, the traditional antonym
- Age of Enlightenment, what created it
- Liberal Party, the various parties explicitly using the name
- Democratic Party, the US party labeled "liberal" since the 20th century and onward
- Combat Liberalism, a 1937 pamphlet published by Mao Tse-Tung
- Social democracy, what liberalism in the US sense seems to be about
- Neoliberalism, something liberals in the US sense seem not to like very much
- Ordoliberalism, a slightly buffered version of social democracy
- Really embarrassing liberals