>How so? The way I understand it, economically Liberal means:
>
>Spending more freely.
>The government better knows how to spend your money than you do.
>More is spent on social programs.
>
>All of these are typically synonymous with Democrat.
>
>Or am I misunderstanding it?

You are misunderstanding it, sort of. Liberal (in the old Hayek terminology) meant a policy of "laissez-faire" economy, in which govt kept *out*, and was synonomous with Republican ideals. Almost the opposite of today's typical meaning. Not sure how the term got so thoroughly corrupted :)