"More liberal" = "more free"?

[eallen]

I've noticed a rhetorical habit in the press. Issues like abortion and gay marriage where the right-wing takes a stand against freedom are never described in terms of freedom vs. social control, but in terms of liberal vs. conservative. For example, consider these closing lines:

But culturally, the Netherlands is more liberal on issues such as euthanasia, gay rights and drugs. "Holland is a free country," Bush said in an interview with a Dutch TV journalist last week. "If that's what the people of Holland want, that's what the government should reflect."

(From http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-dutch9may09,0,2511422.story?coll=la-home-headlines)

Why is that described as "the Netherlands is more liberal," rather than "the Netherlands is more free"? If we started pushing the latter phrasing, would it help show the hypocrisy of the right-wing, which pretends to stand for freedom, even as it nibbles away at it?

[DrDebug]

1. I think liberal is more correct than free

Free means not controlled, not bound and liberal means not limited to or by established, traditional, orthodox, or authoritarian attitudes, views, or dogmas; free from bigotry.

And since government is about establishing bounds and trying to control the country free doesn't sound like the correct term. Liberal sounds more correct.

[sui generis]

2. I'm liberal and proud!

seriously though - we need to own the term.

But I get what you are saying - we also need to make very liberal use of the word "free" to compare (or rather contrast) liberalism to social conservatism.