I have been referred to by some on this forum as an "elitist liberal". Personally I am glad to be in such company. How about our Founding Fathers? George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, Patrick Henry and others definitely were liberals. They all wanted freedom from England. They also were highly educated - unlike most of the colonists. You really could not get much more elite than Ben Franklin. He spoke several languages and was welcome in European (especially France) royal halls.

However, they held onto ideas like slavery (Washington and Jefferson were both slave owners) and not incorporating women into full citizenship (voting). Hard to believe that the Equal Rights Amendment did not gather enough states approval to become part of the Constitution. Well, ask Phylis Schafly about that - that 86 year old artifact still pubished in the Happy Times Gazette.

The Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution were both very liberal documents.

If you were a conservative at that time in history in the US, you were a Tory.

It sounds as though liberalism is very patriotic. Being a conservative is a throwback to an earlier time? Just an observation.