Thread:Blue in the Red Zone/@comment-681745-20150811084252/@comment-26279493-20150811171557

That's a tough question, actually. He's surely considered one of the Great Liberal Devils by many modern conservatives. I tend to see him as pretty pragmatic over-all, and as having a great combination of skills.

I guess that once again it comes down to definitions. If we ignore the Liberal/liberal conflation, and use the old definition of Liberals in a Progressive-Moderate-Conservative scale, I might call him a moderate or even slightly conservative who became a reluctant Progressive, or something like that. He was definately a pragmatist, and compromised his policy preferences to achieve long-term goals. His budgets really speak to more conservative tendencies, and it might be hard to argue his embrace of Keynesian economics.

FDR's "first hundred days" do stand as the most economically progressive legislative legacy in our history. Whether one believes this to be more liberal or more conservative, though may be more about point-of-view than anything else. From a Capitalist point-of-view, it's awfully anti-establishment. From a more individual-rights populist point of view, it might appear more a more pragmatic and anti-corruption policy that sought to restore some of the original balance between Capital and Labor.

We still have the same fight going on today. I suppose monetarist economics and Laissez-faire make sense from the point-of-view of a Capitalist, in that both policies seek to minimize risk and maximize profit. While to an individual or to an entire society (more of a Labor perspective), Keynesian or neo-Keynesian economics and regulation of anti-competitive behavior and assignment of external costs seem more important.

FDR is by no means one-dimensional. Just look at his negotiations with Churchill over entry into the War. Churchill, a conservative is forced to drop the Empire's colonial trade policy as price for US involvement. FDR also had to operate as a head of state in a time of some pretty extreme Capitalist opportunity, so Capital Flight had to be a concern. I think he did a pretty good job of enticing investment that carried us forward for many years.

So, Was FDR liberal? Not always. Was FDR not Liberal? Never! (notice the capitalization?)  That's the key for us to making the distinction. The word Liberal, a noun, denotes our philosophy, and is always capitalized. The word liberal, an adjective, denotes a value judgement and is only capitalized when it's the first word of a sentence. Conservatives are very good at conflating the two words, and would like people to believe that being more liberal makes one more Liberal, and this isn't true.