East Coast Liberal

The term East Coast liberal is a pejorative stereotype encountered in American political culture.

The image associated with East-Coast liberalism is that of a white-collar young urban professional, usually a white male and Protestant, who is college-educated and cosmopolitan.

Traditionally, East Coast liberals were Republican industrialists and old money, exemplified by individuals such as John D. Rockefeller who were both socially liberal as well as fiscally liberal in the classical sense, engaging in both social philanthropy and advocating Laissez-faire economic policy consistent with classical liberalism.

Thomas E. Dewey was a East Coast Republican liberal who was twice nominated by his party to run for the Presidency of the United States.

Notable exceptions to this stereotype were families like the Kennedys, who despite advocating social liberalism and classical fiscal liberalism, were not a part of the East Coast Philadelphian establishment on the basis of anti-Catholicism.

Over the course of the Civil Rights Movement and the Southern Strategy East Coast liberals gradually migrated to the Democratic Party, despite the fact that the Democratic Party does not generally adhere to classical fiscal liberalism, but rather modern fiscal liberalism. Thus ideologically, the stereotypical "East Coast liberal" would today be considered a liberal-libertarian, as they are generally more progressive and/or more supportive of social justice than the average libertarian. He or she may be less likely to adopt the more radical libertarian positions of repealing gun control laws or legalizing prostitution but more likely to advocate such progressive libertarian positions as legalizing same-sex marriage and upholding abortion rights according to Roe v. Wade guidelines.

An East Coast liberal may also differ from the classical fiscal liberal (or modern fiscal conservative) in that he or she may be more likely to espouse "big government" positions that prevent the deterioration of American society and culture. For example, they are more likely to advocate government spending for environmental protection, AIDS or cancer research, and the arts but are less likely to support raising taxes on the rich, high defense spending, or Keynesian economic policies in general. Overall, they would be considered center-right or moderately conservative in the modern sense according to contemporary fiscal-political terminology in the United States. Some still vote for the Republican Party accordingly, while disagreeing greatly with the social platform of that party.

As the Republican Party became more socially conservative, the pejorative has become almost exclusively associated with Liberal Democrats, and within American political discourse, the term East Coast Liberal is almost always used as a disparaging epithet distinguishing from rural or suburban areas usually in Middle America, the Red States.

East Coast liberalism is also contrasted with union/labor liberalism (usually from Rust belt Cities) and West Coast liberalism.