Those sorts aren't liberals. They are just a different sort of conservative. Liberalism is about tolerance and a light touch.

In the European sense, yes.

Well, the terms liberal and liberalism have been coopted or assigned to so many different groups that the terms have lost true meaning. When I studied economics as an undergrad in the '80s, classical liberals were devotees of Keynes.

Today, they are devotees of AOC and "the Squad." In Europe, after more than 15yrs living here, I still am not sure what it means...

In Switzerland the liberals are the people who drafted the constitution and were for much of their history the largest and most influential party who also defended commerce and especially small businesses, standing for fiscal restraint, economic and intellectual freedom, and national unity across religious and linguistic divides and Swiss neutrality in the political, diplomatic and military domains.

Basically everything traditionally associated with Swissness.

But I guess they lost their compass in the last few decades and are now struggling to work out what they actually stand for.

Small (or preferably tiny) government liberals - the kind where you decide what is to be done with YOUR resources - are more needed than ever to stand up against tyrannies.

Americans have a completely different concept of liberalism to the rest of the world.

America doesn't really have any mainstream liberals tbh. Perhaps some of the very purplest Republicans.

I would consider the purple-edge Republicans to be the true conservatives in the traditional sense of the term, with the rest of the GOP being a coalition of libertarians, bible-belt reactionaries and special interest groups. The Dems on the other hand are a coalition of professional groups such as education and administration, plus some old-school working class and union types, and maybe also some intellectual liberals (but very few) with on the edges some more revolutionary elements and also some special interest groups.

I don't think the gradient of (traditional) liberalism to (traditional) conservatism is as stratified in the US as it is in Europe.

Fortunately, not everyone.

The ultimate dissertation on the meaning of conservative: On being conservative by Michael Oakeshott:

So, more than personal convictions, there's great influence of where you were born and your stage in life. Ironically, conservative friends don't like to discuss this.

Well, I don’t know if it’s everything in a nutshell, but there is a new post asking about early retirement in CH - about which I happen to know everything.

In fact, it’s my 58th birthday, and I am now officially retired. Celebrations with loved ones were wonderful, have just finished, and now I’m looking forward to the next episode of Silent Witness, accompanied by a glass of the remaining champagne.

But I will hold back on answering this post, because it will just get moved or deleted because the mod doesn’t understand it or is having a bad hair day.

Good luck to that person out there asking for advice - ‘ cos I’m now officially, happily, well prepared and well stocked-up retired! Would have liked to pass on some good info. - there are so very, many pitfalls you need to look out for in Switzerland.

However, due to completely blind strategy of this site - I will not.

It’s hard - but I’m sure you’ll be fine somehow.

Goodbye you all - the site needs people like me more than we need you, and enough is enough!

Please, wait for FRIDAAAAAAAAY! Or at least repost next Friday.

@Mods: we need a section of the forum for I quit threads. So, no need to hijack other threads or sending messages via active members.

Happy birthday and congrats on the early retirement

I would agree but if a profilic poster decides to leave, I think they've earned the right for a farewell thread that eventually turns into an attack on other posters, the mods or EF in general, depending on the reason for leaving. Ultimately, after seeing the thread become a train wreck for far too long, a mod will close the thread and the poster will have then been put to rest... EF style.

I wish you all the best ZuriRolt re: your retirement!

The EF server would burst from farewell threads for ZüriRollt.

We will not.

This site is going to self-destruct without all of your cheerful input and positivity.



-big salty tears-





Enjoy your retirement!

I think we need to reassess the term "Liberal". Anyone who claims to be a liberal but is has supported big state authoritarian measures like lockdowns and vaccine passports is the antipodal opposite to a liberal!!

Yesterday, Steve Baker MP for Wycombe, compared Covid to Flu in terms of infection fatality rate. This after having the latest estimate for IFR confirmed by the Department of Health (0.096%). I think this highlights well the dangers of accusing people of spreading "false information"!

https://twitter.com/SteveBakerHW/sta...69574615764992

https://questions-statements.parliam...21-07-12/31381

Remember folks, the grass is never greener...

now i know where to troll if things ever get slow on EF