Just Another Political Post.

[Chaerophon]

The essence of being a liberal is to leave as much choice to the individual as possible.

Okay, I read you now. I still think that this particular statement is a bit misleading in that it can quite easily be read as implying a laissez-faire libertarianism. What I read into your post (and was apparently wrong in so doing) was that 'modern' capital L liberals are not really liberals due to the fact that they believe in state involvement as a means to 'equalizing the starting position' of those who are less well off.

To my mind, what differentiates these people (and 'social democrats' as opposed to 'democratic socialists') from socialists is that they do not hold to the famous "from each according to his/her ability to each according to their need" (or however it goes) but believe instead that, to a certain extent, the liberty/capacity of the individual to make choices in the future ought to be equalized, easing the inequality of 'initial positions'. They are not holding to a 'socialist' bundle of values in staking their case - it is made in liberal terms.

I have had to make this distinction on the lounge before; it appears that there was no reasons to make it to you, as the intent of your post was not to make such a claim! Semi-apologies for blowhardism. :)