To me, being "liberal" means (1)supporting democracy and civil rights, (2) treating ALL people with full dignity and respect, (3) not controlled by dogma or ideology, but by reason and evidence. (4) wanting to get needed things done politically that benefit our people.

For me, liberal starts with embracing the idea that everyone should be able to live their lives the way that makes them happy and fulfilled, short of harming others.

The second phase of being politically liberal, again for me, is helping people who need it. I think there are a lot of reasons why someone might find themselves homeless that doesn't have anything to do with being lazy or irresponsible. I think it benefits us all to help people when they're down, so they can get back on their feet. And I'd like to hear a cogent argument against helping sick people. I just ain't seeing it.

The way these two things manifest themselves is that I support government spending on things like education, Medicaid, homeless shelters, scientific advances, etc. I think we spend way more than we need on military hardware and too little on military families.

I also support better income equality and holding corporations responsible for behaving ethically. I would like to see capitalism return to our country, but most industries have become oligopolies that restrict competition. How else would we have situations like the slowest internet service but the highest prices in the developed world? There are just so many examples.

Bottom line, laws should support freedom of lifestyle and open competition and responsible corporate behavior. We don't see that much these days.

I think it's sad that being liberal has been made such a bad thing. What's even worse is liberal minded folks have become a part of this problem. Being liberal is simply being open to ideals that are different from the norm, being open to change. Conservatives fight to hold on to traditions and values that have defined their cultures for generations. That's why religion folks tend to identify as conservative. Being liberal isn't some ultra-left nonsense. Liberal isn't a dirty word.

Right or wrong, I equate 'liberal' somewhat to 'far left' now. For me, it's associated with an extreme viewpoint, as extreme as the far right, the religious right. The term I prefer now, for myself, is progressive.
As a progressive, I believe in socializing medicine and health insurance much as we've socialized SS$, the libraries and education and post offices and I'm not against capitalism although I'm also not convinced it's the best system out there. My view is that we've had systems in place that have worked (SS, medicare, medicaid the big 3, the national parks and on and on) that have helped a great deal of people over the years. As a progressive, I think these systems need refinement and better management.
To me, the right under Trump is all about thoughtlessly abolishing all of these protections and systems we've put in place for a good quality of life and the left is all about reacting to the right. The liberal left is so puffed up in their own greatness, I don't think they even THINK anymore. Thought doesn't even enter the picture under Trump. He's pure greed and his followers are not greedy but their lifestyle is slipping away and he's offered a false sense of direction.

A liberal is someone who supports and defends the notions of Liberty, the idea that we should be free to live as we see fit, as long as my method of living does not negatively impact you.

It has been politicized to death.

A liberal is one who believes that a society functions best when tasks related to the common good are shared by all members of that society.

A conservative is one who believes that a society functions best when the individual is allowed to serve their own best interest.

Open-mindedness, except for all things Trumpian, but that is just common sense. ☺

I support liberal propositions: Free speech, equality for all, no religious requirement, right to refuse tyranny, self defense,..

Unfortunately the "regressive left" no longer does. And they also refuse to learn, and shame anyone who does, thereby being no different than their right/conservative/republican 'opponents.'

Both these groups refuse to acknowledge that people change. People learn. People come to know they were wrong, regret it, and attempt to behave differently. To attack humans for being humans is the most dangerous threat to democracy. A politician who admits they have changed their thoughts is to be applauded. We need people who are honest about their learning. "Flip-flopping" is an indicator of a rational person. The current crop of know-it-alls like, pruitt and sessions and pence, are the worst possible defenders of the basics liberal principles described in the constitution.

The amazingly egregious now are the ignorant young, from all types of indoctrination, who are demanding "safe places" from "offensive" ideas, on universities and elsewhere, is bereft of reason. This is a significant degradation of rationality. (The human right tribunals in canada are definitely a sign of creeping fascism.)

"I am offended," has become the cry of the extremely ignorant. And too often they are being allowed to make laws. Laws that are as stupid as those god's people want to enact.

Offense is taken. Insults are accepted. Neither of these can be GIVEN. Only taken. No one has the right to not feel offended because they don't like what someone says. Defending a person's feelings above the right of free speech, no matter the "political" context, is dangerous for all of us. Western liberal values are under attack from all sides. Be afraid.

Can we endure the insanity of the right and lunacy of the left long enough to get past the coming "republican" caused world depression?

Well, don't get me started.

Live and let live, but shoot the gremlins.

Ya know honestly I don't even bother... and I stay away from either side as much as possible because both tend to go to the extreme and half the time the left is just as obstinante and pig headed as the right.

Granted I'm "Liberal"in many of my ideals..Im LGBT friendly,pro-choice and am all for sensible gun control as well as a better path towards immigration into the US..

However some of my ideals differ and for that many of my more liberal peers are ready to toss me in with conservatives..

It's hard for me to define a liberal because while I get along with many, there are still quite a few that are just as bad as conservatives in some respects.

Liberal. Willing to respect or accept behaviour or opinions different from ones own,open to new ideas.

A political tradition which sought to replace the aristocracy in particular and feudalism more generally with democratic institutions and the rule of law.
One can be a progressive liberal, seeking to empower all members of society through regulated markets and individual liberty or a conservative liberal seeking to create stability through free markets and personal liberties restricted to traditional roles. (This is a vast simplification of both positions)
The agenda pursued by Thatcher, and less self-consciously by Reagan, was designed to roll back much of social (progressive) liberalism returning the lower orders to semi-servitude and freeing the wealthy from many of their current restraints. In other words to emulate the late feudal/early capitalist model. This received the name Neo-Liberalism because of its approach to markets, not to people.
What liberalism is not is any form of socialist.

I liked many of the definitions here.
I consider myself socially liberal and fiscally conservative. Liberal because I believe everyone should have the liberty/freedom to be who they want to be as long as they are not harming anyone else. I'm very much against so called conservatives who believe they have the right to be in people's bedrooms, to me that is not conservative nor is spending ourselves into oblivion conservative, they need a new name. They are pushing their religion on us and nothing else at this point.
We need to be conservative with our money in that we need to be willing to look at social programs and weigh them against more fiscally conservative ideas, like nationalized health care. We pay too much because no one wants to call out the fact that insurance companies are not necessary and are costing us more and providing less coverage to less people. Privatizing prisons and the military increase the cost and only serve to make rich people richer, and more corrupt, again not conservative in the real sense of the word. They waste too much money enriching themselves and their friends. We need to get back to public financing of campaigns before we are bankrupt. We need to conserve our national resources too and plan for the future. There is so much I see not being done about anything, I feel like we need to start over with people who really want to see progress.

For me it is about reason as a solid base and backed by critical thinking. Unfortunately, way too many liberals include loyalty to a cause and become as intransigent as their conservative counterparts. When I hear left of liberal or very liberal I know it is probably an emotion based idealism!

Liberal/conservative- two distorted and simplistic concepts in American political pop-culture that are used to divide the masses along infinite false dichotomies in order to stupify and control them.

Not to be confused with the legitimate, historical and thoughtful definitions of the words liberal and conservative

All these labels have so much stigma around them. What I see, Is a tendency towards either a convergent or divergent social model. Individualism on one side and collectivism on the other. Most of us are not extreme one way or another, but I would say there is a tendency towards collectivism here. I find myself to the left of many liberals. HRC was too conservative for my tastes. One way of looking at is the closed hand versus the open hand... one position is not better than the other... for the hand to be useful, both must be present. The open hand receives, but it also gives. The open hand cannot retain anything nor is it very good at using tools for that reason. The closed hand holds and strikes... it cannot receive or give... but it can retain and use tools... switching tools requires an open hand. This is a way to view liberalism vs. conservatism which sidesteps modern dogmas and stigma around these words.

The opposite of conservative.

I'm a liberal. With the assumption that all economic systems deal with the allocation of scarce resources, well regulated markets are the best way to allocate resources, except when they aren’t. Healthcare is the obvious example. Markets, even regulated markets, are terrible at allocating health resources. Because healthcare is so inherently expensive that most normal people couldn’t actually pay their own medical bills for anything serious, even living in Canada. Never mind the ridiculously expensive prices Americans pay. On the other hand, food is distributed quite efficiently through regulated markets. Production continues to be highly subsidized. Also, any market that isn’t well regulated is not a free market, it’s a monopoly.

I'm not a spokesperson for any group; but I remember when being called a "Liberal" was considered a compliment and I still consider myself a liberal. I like this meme that is attached to this comment for what liberals have done for you:

I dont.
It implies too many things to each person.
Pretty much a useless word in a political context.