I'm saving this here because I liked how it came out.

On another social networking site of an inferior quality I characterized myself as a liberal and an old friend said she didn't think of me as a liberal but as more of a libertarian. "A liberal-itarian, perhaps?"

This was my response to her:
In some ways I am probably kind of an old school libertarian. I think people should be able to live their lives as they like, and I do think that the military and the military-industrial complex should go begging, and we shouldn't be subsidizing big business. In other ways I have to admit to a distinct liberal bias - I don't see any point in having a government if it's not to protect and serve the people. A government should be the way we pool our bargaining power. It should fund itself to inspect corporations by fining them for polluting our earth, our water, our bodies, by fining them for selling us shoddy goods or foods that endanger us. And yes, it should be our way to pool our resources to get things like education and health care delivered to everyone so that we all have a decent fighting chance to have a healthy and productive life.