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Many Americans may be confused about the fact that theirs is a liberal democracy because the Latin-origin word "liberal" has itself been bent out of shape in the U.S. Somehow it has come to mean leftist. That, is about as rare a definition of the word as the use of the Imperial system of measurement. And like the use of inches and ounces, it is basically just plain wrong. It becomes increasingly absurd once you notice that today's far left in the U.S., at least when it comes to free speech, is about as liberal as Mussolini.
Liberalism stands for freedoms, just as it sounds. Britain's John Locke, one of the fathers of liberal thought, argued that individuals possess natural rights, including the rights to life, liberty, and property, and that even when not granted by governments they are inherent to human beings. He called for a "social contract" between the government and the people, to ensure the respect for and promotion of those rights.
