<p>
[quote]
It is inane how much liberals will change their basic principles around so that new information will support their candidates and positions. Shouldn't it be the other way around?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>On the contrary, the problem is not due to a perpetual modification of belief-systems, but it is because liberalism in general does not constitute a single political view:</p>
<p>
[quote]
Liberalism can be understood in historical terms. It is a political tradition which has developed and become one of the dominant political forces in what is known as the Western world over the last three hundred years or so. It is identified by a series of political causes espoused by liberals over the centuries, by a variety of claims about the working of society and the economy, and by a cluster of ideas concerning the fundamental principles of political morality. It is probably true to say that no political cause, no one vision of society nor any political principle has commanded the respect of all liberals in any given generation, let alone through the centuries.(1) But the liberal tradition displays a considerable degree of unity and continuity which have enabled it to become one of the dominant and most formative strands of western culture.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>The (1) denotes an in-text citation to 'Western Liberalism, ed. E. K. Bramsted and K. J. Melhuish, London, 1978.'</p>
<p>This excerpt is from 'The Morality of Freedom, Joseph Raz, Oxford, 1986, pp. 1.'</p>