One of the better analyses I've seen on the foggy term "liberal."

A couple of points:

It may be that one of the problems of a philosophy that attacks "religious conformity, aristocratic privilege, and absolute rule" is that these are no longer the major power centers that they once were. Once wealth and political power were largely products of heredity and arbitrarily-conferred political privilege. Their wealth was largely in the form of taxes and inherited lands that they were entitled to tax. In the Old World especially, the upper classes got there primarily because they were born to it, or had their status conferred by those who were born to it (Boing! You're a Duke! Now start taxing those folks over there.)

This has largely changed. Most wealth in America, for example, is now first-generation, and most of it has been earned from scratch. Aristocracy has become, to oversimplify, meritocracy. As Mel Brooks once said, "it's good to be the king," and revolution doesn't have the appeal it might have when anyone has a fair shot at becoming the king.

I'm not the first by far to point out that America, especially in the 20th century, was not fertile ground for Marxism, or its more diluted descendants. This has become true in many other westernized nations as well, not all of them European by any stretch.

Liberalism will continue as long as most Americans believe they have a responsibility to care for the elderly, the poor, the ill and the young and defenseless.

Most conservatives also feel they have this responsibility. The primary difference is that conservatives and libertarians do not believe there is moral virtue in taking other people's wealth by force to fulfill your responsibilities.

It's not the goals that are an issue. It's the premise that the government, with the power of taxation and wealth distribution, is the most moral, or even the most effective way to accomplish these goals.

I have heard it said that one gains merit by filling the bowl of a Buddhist monk. If I mug someone and use his wallet to drop money in the bowl, do I still gain merit? Any Buddhists in the crowd here?