"Liberalism", American-style

Philosophy of modern liberalism

Modern liberals tend to see themselves in the context of their fellow man and woman and assume their rights and privileges are no greater than anyone else's, regardless of wealth or position. Key liberal values are empathy, compassion, trust, and cooperation. Liberalism is an empirical philosophy that attempts to make changes that will improve life even if those changes run contrary to previously accepted positions. Most tenets are not held with unquestioning conviction.
American liberalism differs from competing political philosophies not only through different values or preferences but through different epistemologies. Liberalism is open to change and receptive to empiricism.[14]
Liberals generally seek a balanced and flexible "mixed economy" occupying that middle ground between capitalism and socialism whose viability is generally denied by both capitalists and socialists.[2] In general liberalism is anti-socialist, when socialism means state ownership of the basic means of production and distribution, because American liberals doubt that bases for political opposition and freedom can survive when all power is vested in the state. Some American liberals also doubt the feasibility of administering a socialist system.
In line with the general pragmatic, empirical basis of liberalism, American liberal philosophy embraces the idea that if substantial abundance and equality of opportunity can be achieved through a system of mixed enterprise, then there is no need for a rigid and oppressive bureaucracy.[2]
Many of these ideas were initially promulgated by liberal thinkers John Dewey, Reinhold Niebuhr, and John Maynard Keynes and form the basis for the American liberal philosophy. The political godfather of American liberalism, Franklin Delano Roosevelt never publicly embraced Keynes's theories but there were many similarities between the works of the two men.[15] The ideas of American liberal philosophers and American liberal politicians, such as Roosevelt, laid the foundation for American liberalism that remains a viable political philosophy embraced by a significant percentage of Americans.
According to George Lakoff, liberal philosophy is based on five basic categories of morality.
The first, the promotion of fairness, is generally described as an emphasis on empathy as a desirable trait. With this social contract based on the Golden Rule comes the rationale for many liberal positions.
The second category is assistance to those who cannot assist themselves. A nurturing spirit is one that is considered good in liberal philosophy.
This leads to the third category, the desire to protect those who cannot defend themselves. This trait is difficult to define, as both conservative and liberal morality consider it a virtue.
The fourth category is the importance of fulfilling one's life; allowing a person to experience all that they can. This goal of ultimate self-development is one that is considered important in liberal philosophy.
The fifth, and final, category is the importance of caring for oneself as to allow one to act on the other categories. This means preventing oneself from "becoming a burden on others", and allowing others to do the same.[16]

Some positions associated with modern liberalism

In the early 21st century, the term "liberalism" in the United States has been applied to a broad spectrum of viewpoints. As the Democratic Party, generally seen as the standard-bearer of liberalism, adopted the more centrist outlook of the DLC, the term "liberal" (applied to the party as a whole) became associated even with more centrist candidates who, for example, may support the death penalty or take pro-business positions. For this reason, and because many on the right have so heavily used "liberal" as a pejorative, some Americans on the left of the political spectrum prefer to call the movement progressivism.
On the other hand, those associated with the DLC have used the term neoliberalism to describe what they regard as a more pragmatic and results-oriented form of American liberalism. This usage creates some confusion, since the same term is used to describe the international revival of classical liberalism and the associated radical free-market policies associated with politicians such as Margaret Thatcher and, in the United States, Ronald Reagan.

The following are some of the views that many contemporary American liberals or progressives support, starting with several points where there would be a strong consensus among American liberals.

- A social "safety net" including support for Medicare, unemployment benefits, health insurance, and preservation of existing Social Security and welfare programs
- Adherence to the principle of separation of church and state
- A reasonable progressive tax system
- Civil rights, including laws against discrimination based on gender, race, age, religion, sexual orientation, or disability
- Laws intended to protect the environment from pollution and encourage conservation of resources
- Government role in funding or subsidizing public education and public transportation
- Regulation of business practices through OSHA, child labor laws, anti-trust laws, and minimum wage laws.
- Labor unions and labor regulation
- The belief in a woman's right to abortion by Roe v. Wade standards
- Government role in alternative energy development
- Government responsibility to supervise ports and infrastructure in the public interest
- A spirit of international cooperation and strong alliances
- The elimination of the death penalty
- Advocacy of federal funding for embryonic stem cell research and support of scientific study
- Affirmative action continuance and transitional multi-lingual educational programs for children whose first language is not English
- Gun control and regulation for safety
- Opposition to censorship of the media
- Marijuana or hemp legalization for medicinal, industrial, or recreational purposes
- The right of the terminally ill to end their life
- Animal welfare
- Support for same sex-marriage

On globalization, American liberals stand largely divided. Liberal members of the intelligentsia and the professional class tend to favor globalization, due to their cosmopolitan ideals. Members of organized labor, on the other hand, tend to be opposed to increased globalization: