[pepper_sauce]

The definition of liberal in North America is different to the rest of the world. Liberal is not left wing or socialist elsewhere.

And to confuse matters further, I imagine GP is saying 'left wing' and 'socialist' in NA are somewhat diluted compared to the rest of the world.

[sonnyblarney]

Yes, I agree, but your bit: " because the North American liberals are neither of those two." I inferred as liberal in the sense of what people are called, whereas I guess you meant to imply classical liberal, which I guess would be 'Libertarian' but even that label doesn't apply well in the US as it's a fairly populist movement.