> > > Just look up "liberal" in the dictionary for a perfect example of a word whose meaning has changed.
> > >
> > > MA"I'll bet you didn't know about this one"NGO
> >
> > All the meanings I can find for "liberal" are pretty obvious ones. What previous meaning did you find?
>
> Aside from the fact that most people don't seem to grasp that "liberal arts" doesn't (or didn't used to, at least) mean "postmodern nonsense where we talk about our feelings" I'm assuming MANGO is referring to the definition as it applies to politics.
>
> Clasically, liberalism was best defined as opposition to conservatism (they are still opposed). Conservatism was essentially embracing the status quo, which in European politics meant authoritarian monarchies. The liberal movement embraced the idea of freedom and political involvement for a larger section of the population. Thomas Jefferson is a good example of a classical liberal.

That is more or less what I think of when I hear the word "liberal" used in a political sense. In this context, it carries the same set of meanings as the other most common usage, ie "generous" or similar related concepts such as "broad-ranging", "free" or whatever. So for me, "liberal" as an adjective has pretty much the same meaning in its political, academic and everyday applications.

On the other hand, if I see capital-L "Liberal" I think of it as the name of a specific political party. Somehow I don't connect it in my mind to small-L "liberal" in any literal sense, any more than their party names make me think the Green party must all have charmingly verdant skin tones or the Labour party spends its day either digging ditches or having babies.

Politically, "liberal" and "conservative" here tend to refer to a politician's views on moral or social issues, which seems to be in line with the Merriam-Webster 2c definition you gave (autonomy of the individual). The role of government in providing social services is favoured more by the Labour (left) party than by the National (right) party. I put those descriptions in brackets because the parties actually seem to be pretty much identical in every way that I can see. Heheh.

Brunnen-"learning about politics is still on the list of things I ought to do when I grow up. Oh. Darn"G