I was watching T.V and I saw a commercial for this Republican running for California Governor and he kept throwing around the word Liberal. “Liberal Bias, Liberal Agenda, It’s all the Liberal’s Fault!” I just realized I have no idea what it means. Has the word lost all meaning from being thrown around far too much or is it just a way for a Republican to express anger at problems he causes? And what does it mean?
is your question what that particular Republican thinks it means, or what it actually means?
Probably both 
I’m going to assume you’re talking about in the United States so I’ll answer from that vantage point:
Right-wing definition of liberalism: SOCIALIST! COMMUNIST! FASCIST! DICTATOR! MENTAL ILLNESS! DISEASED! TERRORIST LOVER! AMERICA HATER! PINKO! JEW! ATHEIST! MUSLIM![COLOR=‘Black’]somebody pay attention to me[/size]
Actual definition of liberalism: A political theory founded on the natural goodness of humans and the autonomy of the individual and favoring civil and political liberties, government by law with the consent of the governed, and protection from arbitrary authority.
If I can be allowed to make a drastic oversimplification, Liberalism is a rejection of “every man for himself” as a method of governance.
JFK defined a liberal as “…someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people — their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties — someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a ‘Liberal’, then I’m proud to say I’m a ‘Liberal’.”
Now obviously this thread has a lot of liberal bias, I’d be interested to hear the conservative viewpoint.
Like the OP said in the OP, conservatives use “liberal” as an insult. So don’t expect an unbiased opinion on the definition of liberalism from a conservative (or from JFK, if we’re honest).
That’s a bit of a stereotype. I’m sure that there’s one or two conservative people who don’t use liberal as an insult… :rolleyes:
thats a fact, not a stereotype. name any nationally recognized American conservative and i’ll find a quote of them using liberal as an insult within 5 minutes.
/sarcasm
Liberal in its actual meaning is a governmental system leaning towards anarchy, while still maintaining control.
To a Republican a Liberal is someone opposed to conservative ideas, and therefore can be any number of things.
In Australia the Liberal Party is actually more like the American Republicans, just to confuse the yanks further.