I keep seeing posts from this instance referring to capitalists as liberals. Since when are capitalism and liberalism related? As far as I've always known, liberalism is a social ideology, while capitalism is an economic system.
Why do y'all refer to all capitalists as liberals when at least half (probably more, at least in my experience) are conservatives?
I, for example, consider myself a liberal, but I'm most certainly not a capitalist. I'm stuck in a capitalist society in which I have to play by the rules if I want to feed my family, but that's as far as my support for the system goes. I'm pretty sure a lot of Americans feel this way.
Looking it up, the definition of liberalism specifies a belief in maximum personal freedom, especially as guaranteed by a government. Considering that 90% of governments in the world are endlessly corrupt, capitalist or not, I'd much prefer one that guarantees its citizens rights as a matter of course rather than begrudgingly grants them privileges that can be taken away without public oversight.
Do y'all really trust your governments to look after your best interests? As a U.S. American, I know I wouldn't trust my government or politicians to do anything but enrich themselves at my expense, but I don't have to; my rights are guaranteed by our constitution.
Now if we could just get them to stop funding and committing genocide...
EDIT: So many incredibly well thought-out and researched responses! I have a lot of reading and thinking to do, so thank you all for your input. I'll likely be referring back to this post for a while as I learn more about the world outside my U.S.-centric bubble. My biggest takeaways from all this after a quick perusal of the replies are that liberalism has a very different meaning outside the U.S. and has a lot more to do with private property, especially land ownership, than I'd thought.
My time is limited and there are so many responses that I likely won't be replying to (m)any any time soon, but know that I appreciate all the knowledge bombs y'all have dropped.
I've only recently been understanding that fascism is another, separate ideology within capitalism. Distinct from liberalism. For years the way I saw it was that fascism is a temporary emergency status when capitalism needs to suddenly and violently correct internal strife. Now it's making more sense that the internal conflict is always there and nascent fascist elements will attempt to make sense of it, eventually creating fascism.
I'm liking the idea that fascism has to recognize itself before that point. Conservatives in America are the larval fascists. They don't understand who they are or what they want yet. They're unbridled racism and petty bourgeois paranoia without any of the alliances they'd need to make, or the ground movement they'd need to have. They have no theory and are currently too lazy to care. Although more and more I've been looking at libertarianism as the most likely culprit for larval American fascist theory.
The adage "scratch a liberal and a fascist bleeds" gets used a lot around here, I think a lot people share that first impression.
Liberalism is a self contradictory ideal. Freedom and equality clash with the protection of private property. This contradiction cannot be resolved. Liberalism is thus a non-ideoligy.
Liberalism is a way to override the natural tendencies of humans to work together and help each other and share what we have. (aka socialism) and replace it with greed, selfishness, and competition. Liberalism atomises individuals and destroys communities. It breeds a state of anxiety and fear and fascism claims to solve that fear by convincing neighbours to kill each other as a way to free them from competition. Liberalism is the foundation of fascism.