“I use throughout the term ‘liberal’ in the original, nineteenth-century sense in which it is still current in Britain. In current American usage it often means very nearly the opposite of this. It has been part of the camouflage of leftish movements in this country, helped by muddleheadedness of many who really believe in liberty, that ‘liberal’ has come to mean the advocacy of almost every kind of government control.
I am still puzzled why those in the United States who truly believe in liberty should not only have allowed the left to appropriate this almost indispensable term but should even have assisted by beginning to use it themselves as a term of opprobrium. This seems to be particularly regrettable because of the consequent tendency of many true liberals to describe themselves as conservatives.”—F.A. Hayek, in the Forward to “The Road to Serfdom” (1944)

The modern American concept of liberal as being equal to central planning is a horrible turn of events and those with a totalitarian bent use it to its fullest. Those who claim the title liberal actually appeal to the power of real liberalism while supporting and instituting policies that are markedly anti-liberal.

Please join me in properly using the term liberal and opposing those who would misuse the term. We are liberals – They are not!