Here in the UK the right-wing haven’t (yet) made “liberal” a dirty word. I am very much a (small “l”) liberal and happily describe myself as such. Unfortunately this sometimes causes confusion, especially with my friends in the US, so I thought I’d just take a minute to explain what I mean by the word.

There are (at least) two distinct axes to political opinion: economic and social. The confusion over the word liberal generally arises in the economic context.

In the US the term liberal apparently conjures up pictures of big government interfering with the economy: the dastardly liberals want to tax sweet little multinational corporations and hard working millionaires in order to pamper the lazy poor with luxuries like healthcare, education and housing. Now that happens to be an approach I fully support - I want to renationalise essential public services and run them as tax subsidised services - but it’s not part of what I mean by the word “liberal”. When people in Europe talk about “liberalising” the economy they usually mean opening it up to private industry and exposing it to the whims of the market; the sort of rampant global capitalism usually associated with the right wing parties. So in the US my economic views would probably be called liberal yet I actually oppose economic libertarianism. Hence the confusion.

For me being a liberal is not about economics, it’s about the social aspect. My position can be summarised very simply: so long as you’re an adult and not harming anyone else then go ahead and do whatever you want. I might not like what you do but that doesn’t give me or any government the right to ban it. In particular it’s completely unacceptable for the government to restrict the freedom of adults “for their own good”.

Of course there are lots of grey areas concerning indirect harm etc. However the basic principle of my sort of social liberal is that government interference in private lives should be a last resort rather than a first course of action. That philosophy is what distinguishes a liberal from an authoritarian. If government intervention is considered absolutely necessary then it should be kept to a minimum. Regulation is preferrable to prohibition.

So, is “liberal” just another way of saying “amoral”? Not at all. I have a strong personal moral and ethical code. But it’s my code. Being a liberal means I don’t seek to impose my personal opinion on others so long as they refrain from harming anyone. Discuss, debate and cajole - yes. Impose - no.

All of which is a rather long winded way of saying: liberal means live and let live.

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