""When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less," says Humpty Dumpty to Alice in Lewis Carroll's classic children's tale. I've been revisiting this quote lately because, in many ways, I feel Western democracies have gone fully through the looking glass when it comes to how we discuss politics. The words we use to describe our positions and those of others often sit on shaky perches."
"Consider that in the United States, a liberal is someone who stands on the political left, probably voted for Joe Biden, and may subscribe to some lite socialism ( another Humpty Dumpty term, but one at a time). Despite that, some self-described leftists and progressives in the U.S. view liberals as political opponents. Across the pond in Europe, a liberal may support policies best described as conservative, centrist, or even libertarian in the U.S."
Words used to describe political positions shift in meaning depending on context, speaker, and audience, producing widespread ambiguity. The term liberalism exemplifies this drift, carrying different implications in the United States and Europe and dividing factions within the left. Prefixes and labels such as classical, social, economic, neoliberal, and establishment fail to clarify and often obscure underlying beliefs. While semantic evolution is natural, imprecise political language hampers mutual understanding and leaves proponents of certain ideas unable to clearly articulate their value to societies and citizens.
Read at Big Think
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