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Originally posted by TheStinger
Interesting that free trade is considered a conservative position. In the 19th century the Tory party in the UK( the forerunner to the conservatives) opposed free trade and the Whigs/liberals were in favour of it. Of course Liberal in the UK does have a slightly different meaning to that in the US as it mainly stresses personal freedom.
Liberals in the UK have tended to be left of the Conservative party, but have until recently not been in favour of big government or socialist policies.( there is an active debate in the Lib Dems at the moment about what their economic policies should be).
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Actually, in the United States, liberalism changed in meaning -- it never was static.
Liberalism of the nineteenth century in United States favored little/no government intervention in the economy, and completely left social programs to the municupal city governments and non-government organizations.
The liberalism of the twentieth century United States changed into favoring government intervention in the economy, inclusion of minority groups in political participation, and social welfare programs for those disadvantaged.
