Self-imposed ideological McCarthyism becomes a mental and political imprisonment of self by the self. The concomitant side effect of such self-induced inflection may bear unpleasant or nagging symptoms through unavoidable inherent contradictions. Put another way, liberals may not be what they think they are - so much the easier for them to shed the term as descriptor. Some examples include, New Age, Progressive. According to popular belief today and political dictionaries a liberal is someone who believes that the government has the responsibility to alter the social conditions such that a more just and equitable society is the result.
Liberals are in favor of helping the poor, the minorities and the disadvantaged.
Liberals are typically involved with peace and social justice issues and reducing the military budget while defending civil liberties. A strain of liberalism with its main emphasis on pragmatic approaches to change. A member of the Democratic party. Note that Democrat is not synonymous with liberal. There are some conservatives and moderates in the Democratic party, even if the majority of Democrats could be considered liberal.