Ronald Reagan was a neoliberal- so was George (Senior) Bush. I see
people today using it to just mean
liberal- when it means the exact opposite.
In the distant past of the early 2000s, the established
definition actually paralleled "Neo-conservative" . Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, Alan Greenspan, and Milton Friedman were neoliberals, aka conservatives.
The
definition of neoliberal (often shortened to "neolib") has had several definitions which are current undergoing
re-invention in our post-truth societies. In that sense, it can mean whatever you want it to mean. But one problem with having so many active and contradictory definitions (of which this site seems to promote more than most others), is that canonical definitions will be thrown out, thus making historical review almost impossible. Already we have much confusion about how the Dixiecrats turned into the Republican Party of today.
"Neoliberals and Neoconservatives weren't opposing ideologies- so it is non-obvious that they went together
like chocolate and peanut
butter."
or (shortened)
"Just as up is the
new down, neolibs are the new libs."
