What is a Liberal?

I was commenting at Me4President2008 about religion and somehow ventured on the topic of labels. I mentioned that I wasn't a Christian because of the association with other "Christians" and how I don't like what they're associated with, and discovered in this thought about labels that I might not be a liberal. So I wanted to find the truth.

I went to Answers.com and typed in "liberal." I wanted to find a description of the term and found one.

There were phrases from WordNet like "tolerant of change; not bound by authoritarianism, orthodoxy, or tradition" and "showing or characterized by broad-mindedness."

I can agree with this.

From Houghton-Mifflin's Thesarus was "Not narrow or conservative in thought, expression, or conduct."

Also from WordNet is "a person who favors a political philosophy of progress and reform and the protection of civil liberties."

That's me, too. The "broad-mindedness" part is really true. It explains why my ultra-conservative friend had such a hard time with C++ programming. He could only see it one way. I think if he opened his mind a bit he would do fine.

I think liberals are great engineers due to the open-mindedness. People who are able and open to (and not ashamed of) taking a different approach to something are the ones who will take the world to the next era.

From this description, I gather that liberals are open to change and not stuck in the past or to certain traditions or objects. That's me, too.

So I guess I'm a liberal. I accept the label.

That doesn't mean that I'm on one side of the fence gathering mud to throw to the other side; I'm saying that I believe certain things. I'm not partisan, I'm listening. I'm not taking sides, I'm listening. I'm not here to fight, I'm here to hear. To make a difference. To not push anything on anyone. To help people. Not to hate. I'm listening. I may not agree, but still I listen.