what is liberalism?

The word liberal has become common parlance lately being associated with the divorce issue.
Surely the word liberal is a very vague word and as the divorce campaign showed that economic liberals are often at odds with social liberals.
For the sake of clarity am only referring to social liberals in this post.
Surely the weekend's referendum was a liberal victory but not everyone who supported divorce turns out to be a liberal.
Neither is secularism necessarily a liberal concept. Mintoff was probably the most secular Prim Minister in Maltese history but he was hardly the most liberal.
Social liberalism denotes a frame of mind based on a respect for freedom and individual rights which defies not just confessional politics but also political tribalism as well as xenophobia and nationalism.
Surely for social liberals, divorce is just one of many social freedoms which must include full equality between gay and straight couples i.e. gay marriages.
In the European context it also denotes an inclination to rise above national boundaries and to favour the social inclusion of migrants.
It also denotes a tendency to favour political pluralism based on truly representative electoral systems...The liberal agenda is much longer than divorce....In its wider sense liberalism is frame of mind alien to both major parties in Malta. In fact the very two party system militates against political liberalism which seeks to limit majority rule.