I'd go with "economic liberty," myself. Liberty, to me at least, is freedom tempered with responsibility and (for lack of a less-loaded term) morality. You need all three to work with and against each other as balancing agents. Yes, they work with and against each other in the same way that the three branches of government are supposed to work together.

>>>freedom" has become an inflammatory code word for hedonism. For that we have, well, certain ideologically driven social conservatives to thank.

Um, our good libertarian friends have something to say in the matter too. For a lot of them, particularly this huge set that describe themselves as "liberaltarians" or "left libertarians" or these blue state urban libertarians, libertarian has become an inflammatory codeword for libertine. Jonah Goldberg calls them the Porno & Pot Libertarians, which seems to be a pretty fair description - they cheer leftists sticking it to the man via taxes or any general rebuke of the Republican party, and they seem to have exceedingly little respect for property rights, except as a means of keeping the cops from seizing their stash. When I read Reason, especially the comments, I can't help but think, "so this is what the free rider looks like."

Spot on (except national security should be added to the mix). The only reason the GOP coalition didn't crack in 2004 was the War on Terror (it was the only thing keeping me in Bush's corner, certainly). And its why the libertarians (who tend to be isolationists on foreign policy) started bolting in 2004. They preferred the Dems on foreign policy and social policy, and dindn't care for either on domestic.

Its also why Huckabee, while he would have done a better job than McCain in appealing to the blue collar voters leery of Obama, would have been a disaster for the Republican Party. Other than Obama's association with enormously unsavory individuals, what reason does a national security libertarian have to vote for a big spending hard-core social conservative with no more than a superficial grasp of foreign policy issues?

But FiCons aren't blameless, and they better learn something from the Bush years: advocating tax cuts does not equal economic conservativism. McCain was, in the long run, the better FiCon than Bush, because even though he opposed Bush's plan, he advocated spending policies that would have made tax cuts sustainable, which Bush never did.

Oh and one more thing, I absolutely LOVE Chick tracts for their kitch value. Good find.

No, no, call it what it is - freedom. Or liberty, like JC said. Why cover up the truth? Maybe I'm hopelessly idealistic, but I think it will sell...

Economic choice.
Economic change.
Economic hope.
They all sorta work.
We'll all keep trying until we stumble upon the best marketing solution.

Waauuugh a Chick Tract!!!!

You can't post that is filthy!

It's a pity truth is no longer considered marketable. Or perhaps it never was and I'm just incredibly naive.

As Jeff Goldstein urges, take back the language, and call the people using good words as code words to mis-represent their own views and their opponents' the dirty liars they are.