difference between liberal and left wing

To me,

Being liberal means having a mindset open to do what is right.
Being leftwing is a conservative philosophy that overwhelms the facts and is governed by a strict ideology.


Sometimes being leftwing is the correct thing. It's the liberal thing.
For example:

it is leftwing to be for gun control measures. After examing all the facts, while it is not 100% - 0%, I nonetheless still support those policies.

it is leftwing to be against the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars and against the bloated military budget. It is also the right policy. The correct liberal policy.

it is leftwing to support abortion rights 100%. It is also the correct liberal policy when you take into account law enforcement, civil rights, and just daily American life.

So the test is really whether you undertake an objective study of the facts, and attempt to make the best decision rather than starting out with an ideological position and then seek to confirm and/or implement it.

Trying terrorist suspects in civilian courts is a bad leftwing idea.

Again, I have to give the Obama administration credit for the willingness to do what they think is right, irregardless of the politics. But they are wrong. In a war, America needs to win. Terrorists have declared war on the U.S. To be a terrorist and engage in terrorism is to engage in war.

People suspected of terrorism sometimes are innocent, but in a war, instead of being presumed innocent, people need to be presumed guilty. We should still try to verify whether that is accurate because as Americans we are a just people.

But if we presume suspected terrorists innocent, the actual terrorists would use that against us to kill us all. No exaggeration needed.

It's different when we talk about whether someone used illegal drugs, or whether they committed some other non-violent crime. Violent crime, warfare, and terrorism are so dangerous they deserve emergency exceptions to our general approach to civil liberties.

We should always seek to make the process as fair as possible, treating others the way we would want to be treated. But realizing if we're not here, then none of the rest matters, is the most important concept to keep in mind.