The Baha'i Studies Listserv Dear Stephen, This is a Baha'i list and as such we try and veer away from partisan politics. Speaking as a historian, though, I think it is clear that the meanings of words like 'liberal' have changed over time. The 19th century use of the term 'liberal' might better describe a libertarian today in terms of policies, but the purpose of those policies are now quite different. The classical liberals opposed the privileges of the aristocratic classes, however modern libertarians tend to support policies which increase economic disparities.
Also, I might mention something about the use of the term 'left' and 'right.' These terms grow out of the seating arrangement of the Estates General (the French version of Parliament) on the eve of the French Revolution. The aristocrats and the churchmen sat on the right whereas the common people sat on the left. So what the terms really denote is the support of privilege vs. the common people. warmest, Susan __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[email protected] Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto:leave-659327-27401.54f46e81b66496c9909bcdc2f7987...@list.jccc.edu Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [email protected] Or subscribe: http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:[email protected] Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/?forum=bahai-st News (on-campus only) - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
