[uncle_d]

That's how it seems to be used in the USA - someone left-leaning that may well support more government intervention in the name of fairness.

Classical liberalism in contrast focuses on the liberty of the individual through limiting government.

[geff82]

I am a „liberal“ German and I really have a hard time to translate that correctly. I am neither conservative, liberal nor libertarian. German „liberalism“ and how it is seen in most countries is a distinct mix of all of them, but not in the extremist sense: while we european liberals like to be conservative in private, we accept and promote civil liberties (including abolishing death penalty and being allowed to smoke marijuana) and still want much less government and taxes (yet we do not hate the government as the libertarians do).

[iamnothere]

You may still fall under the US definition of libertarian, which is a fairly broad spectrum. There is a split within libertarians, which used to be denoted by so-called "big L" Libertarians (Libertarian Party) and "small l" libertarians, but I haven't seen those terms mentioned as much lately. In general US libertarianism is a spectrum like any other political ideology, and you'll see people who represent extreme versions of it (think "muh roads" meme), some who fall more toward the traditional classical liberal position, and some who are more left leaning (communitarianism and neigboring groups, some Greens as well).

I think because we only have two major parties here, outlying groups tend to mix together more, even when they have substantial disagreements in their philosophy. As a whole, we are also less well-educated about alternative political systems, which makes the discussion more confusing for everyone involved.