Paleoliberalism

Paleoliberalism is a seldom used term for extreme liberalism of a variety of forms. A paleoliberal is "Extremely or stubbornly liberal in political matters." Because liberalism itself has several different radically different meanings, the terms paleoliberalism carries ambiguity and has been used to describe opposite policy positions and political philosophies.
The term has been used to refer to an extreme or "unreconstructed" exponent of modern American liberalism. For example, Brian Doherty writing in Reason in 1997 used the term to refer to Richard Gephardt in his opposition to Clinton's free trade policies.
It can also be used to describe liberals who are more socialist in political outlook, and to modern liberals who are opposed to neoliberalism. If this meaning is used, then paleoliberals and neoliberals are opposed to each other on many economic, social and political issues.
According to Michael Lind, the terms applies to foreign policy hawks who later became Neoconservatives. Lind argues that in the late 1960s and early 1970s many anti-Soviet liberals and social democrats, such as , thought of themselves as "paleoliberals."
However, the term can also be used to describe the exact opposite of these views, and has been used by Alexander Rüstow, to describe European like Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek. Used in this sense, the terms "paleoliberal", "neoliberal", "classical liberal" and "liberal" all have similar meaning.

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