Someone who thinks that killing an unborn child is free choice, but killing a convicted murderer or a child rapist is "insensitive".

Someone who think the government should control all aspects of life examples: Healthcare, Education, Business, personal income, and religious beliefs (So nobody can be offended).

Someone who thinks that eliminating poverty is more important than preserving economic freedom in life.

Someone who thinks that fair taxation is not fair until the people who make more money pay more than their fair share.

Someone who supports such extreme environmental regulations that drilling for oil in the US is virtually impossible, but also fight against any source of energy that actually works (Nuclear, Coal). But they can also support ethanol that takes approximately 1.5 gallons of diesel fuel to provide the power to make 1 gallon of "environmental friendly" ethanol.
They must also subsidize ethanol companies, therefore creating a money vacuum into a doomed energy policy. Which not too mention has decreased US food production and therefore has led to a worldwide increase of countries with food shortages by the way.

Someone who supports free speech as long as it doesn't contradict what they believe, then it's no longer free speech, but "hate speech."

They must also be completely ignorant of history which shows us that increase in government control ultimately leads to the destruction of freedom. Examples: The Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, The People's Republic of China, etc.

Someone who believes in equal economic outcome (an aspect of socialism) instead of inequality based on what you earned (an aspect of capitalism).

Someone who blindly believes that the government would never do anything to hinder the freedoms of people no matter how much power it is given and the government is the solution to all economic and social problems because they actually know what's best for you, not the individual. Remember, Big Brother is here to help you, not hurt you.

There are of course many other things that you must blindly believe in order to be a liberal in the modern political American aspect of the word. Regardless of what history teaches us about government control in people's lives.

If used in a non-political sense, "liberal" simply means "a lot."

Liberal is a person with liberal views. However, an EXTREME liberal is the WORST type of person. To start with they brainwash people. Then they convince you that their pre made views they hand to you are open minded. They tell you to hate Republicans and everyone who thinks differently than you. They are the first to throw around the word racist. Most extreme liberal abuse minorities. They look for a group typically blacks or hispanics, convince them they are nothing and need the liberals to survive, then exploit them for political power. Extreme liberals are usually igorant but claim everyone else is. They pretend to be looking out for the people but are only looking out for themselves. Some day people will realize this is the truth.

Adjective - Falling to the left on the political spectrum of the average person, being in favour of more government control of economic actions (such as making minimum wage laws), but less governmental control of personal actions (such as allowing protesting)
noun - Any person who is liberal, as desribed above

A liberal, in the American sense, is one who falls to the left in the political spectrum; In other parts of the world, however, liberalism is the belief in laissez-faire capitalism and free-market systems - hence the recently coined term, neoliberalism.

Although I do not like to generalize, for the purposes of a (somewhat) concise dictionary definition, here is the very basic liberal (American sense) ideology:

Politics:
The federal government exists to protect and serve the people, and therefore, should be given sufficient power to fulfill its role successfully. Ways in which this can be accomplished include giving the federal government more power than local governments and having the government provide programs designed to protect the interests of the people (these include welfare, Medicare, and social security). Overall, these programs have helped extensively in aiding the poor and unfortunate, as well as the elderly and middle class.
To make sure that the interests of the people are served, it was liberals (or so they were considered in their time) that devised the idea of a direct democracy, a republic, and modern democracy. This way, it is ensured that the federal government represents the interests of the people, and the extensive power that it is given is not used to further unpopular goals. Liberals do not concentrate on military power (though that is not to say they ignore it), but rather focus on funding towards education, improving wages, protecting the...

1. Technically, someone who falls to the left in a political system, who believes in government programs (healthcare is a good example, as is welfare) and a larger scope of government, also favors monitoring of business and protection of constitutional rights. Someone who believes that the federal government should have more importance than state government,

2. Somehow, it has turned into an insult, like the word conservative. Usually used as such by people who have never taken a political science class and don't know what the word means. Often used to describe "liberal media" despite the fact that most media outlets are owned by conservative corporations like ClearChannel, and the prevalence of conservative talk shows.

noun: A person who, because of a brilliantly ineffectual two-party system, has been made out as the "enemy of democracy" in the minds of those currently in power. Every vicious, hateful post against these people (and against conservatives) helps take our minds off of the real ills of society so that we may feel like we're doing good by hating SOMETHING.

Technically means those people who embrace all elements of society.

However it is more commonly used as a term for any left-winger.