Talk:Liberalism in countries

Australia

I don't know Australian politics, but I do know that the description here of the Australian Liberal Party keeps changing. Are they really "right-wing conservative"? That would suggest pretty far right, as even a mainstream conservative is on the right, broadly speaking. -- Jmabel 23:40, Aug 22, 2004 (UTC)

U.S.

The description of liberalism in the US seems wrong. To say it is at variance with the rest of the world is to ignore the "social liberalism" which is mentioned in many of the other parts of the article as one of the forms of liberalism. john k 03:50, 22 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Feel free to edit... -- Jmabel 05:50, Sep 22, 2004 (UTC)

Europe

I think the description of liberalism in Europe is mis-leading. The "broad tradition" of liberal parties in Europe were most definitely on the left, as they advocated free market capitalism in opposition to the protectionist capitalism of conservative forces during the nineteenth centuries, and advocated individual liberty in contrast to the traditional right-wing opposition to all forms of liberty. Liberalism was shifted to the centre when group rights and progressive alternatives to capitalism developed with the rise of socialism. In Europe the word still generally refers to the broad left/centre tradition. --User:195.92.67.71

This issue is not too simple to solve, and for instance "National-Liberals" are/were not necessarily perceived as centre-left, but by and large, I would agree, stressing the Liberals' role to promote democracy, freedom of religion, abolishment of guild privileges, women's rights, minority rights and civil rights in general, international charity, etc, etc. /Tuomas 12:58, 22 Oct 2004 (UTC)

I think the problem is the broad lack of historical context in the description. We need to explain how the meaning of the term has grown and changed. john k 15:58, 22 Oct 2004 (UTC)

That history is there in Liberalism, or at least it was last time I read that article. John, do you think it would be useful to bring more of that here as well? -- Jmabel | Talk 19:13, Oct 22, 2004 (UTC)

Hmm...yes, I knew the history was present there. Perhaps this entire article should be scrapped, and this should all just be discussed in Liberalism. The title certainly doesn't make much sense. It should be Liberalism in different countries, at the very least. john k 19:40, 22 Oct 2004 (UTC)

I accepted the challenge :-) and integrated the content into liberalism --Gangulf 20:47, 22 Oct 2004 (UTC)