I keep seeing posts from this instance referring to capitalists as liberals. Since when are capitalism and liberalism related? As far as I've always known, liberalism is a social ideology, while capitalism is an economic system.
Why do y'all refer to all capitalists as liberals when at least half (probably more, at least in my experience) are conservatives?
I, for example, consider myself a liberal, but I'm most certainly not a capitalist. I'm stuck in a capitalist society in which I have to play by the rules if I want to feed my family, but that's as far as my support for the system goes. I'm pretty sure a lot of Americans feel this way.
Looking it up, the definition of liberalism specifies a belief in maximum personal freedom, especially as guaranteed by a government. Considering that 90% of governments in the world are endlessly corrupt, capitalist or not, I'd much prefer one that guarantees its citizens rights as a matter of course rather than begrudgingly grants them privileges that can be taken away without public oversight.
Do y'all really trust your governments to look after your best interests? As a U.S. American, I know I wouldn't trust my government or politicians to do anything but enrich themselves at my expense, but I don't have to; my rights are guaranteed by our constitution.
Now if we could just get them to stop funding and committing genocide...
EDIT: So many incredibly well thought-out and researched responses! I have a lot of reading and thinking to do, so thank you all for your input. I'll likely be referring back to this post for a while as I learn more about the world outside my U.S.-centric bubble. My biggest takeaways from all this after a quick perusal of the replies are that liberalism has a very different meaning outside the U.S. and has a lot more to do with private property, especially land ownership, than I'd thought.
My time is limited and there are so many responses that I likely won't be replying to (m)any any time soon, but know that I appreciate all the knowledge bombs y'all have dropped.
This is meant in good faith: A constitution does not protect or guarantee any rights
A constitution is just a piece of paper that says what rights should be protected, but at the end of the day, it's just words on a page. There is no power in it. Any protections offered by it - and any ability to prosecute failures of it - are enforced by the same state that has the power to change, interpret, or ignore it
Using a constitution as a legal framework for arguments is fine. Expecting it to protect you from government overreach is, unfortunately, naive. If the government - any government - chooses to violate the constitution, then your only recourse is to hope that same government prosecutes itself, and that's never going to happen. And if the government ever turns to full fascism, the constitution sure as shit won't stop a fascist bullet in its tracks either
Also, in what world do US politicians not use their position to enrich themselves at their constituents' expense? That's basically all they do, and occasionally make laws. If you truly believe that any politician of any party in the US is working out of the goodness of their hearts and a supreme love of the constitution and helping people, then I would sincerely suggest you ignore any offers of people selling bridges, no matter how good the deal
To your last point, OP did state:
Fair, bit of a failure of reading on my part