@talljasperman Oh gosh, don’t worry about offending at all. I was just curious :)
The left-right scale we use to teach politics is completely inadequate, and leads to misconceptions, such as liberals being tied with communists. This oversimplification of political ideology leads to much confusion.
Liberals by definition believe in the importance of liberty and individual rights. Liberalism supports things like capitalism, free trade, human rights, property rights, and fair elections.
Stalin held a funny sort of mix between Marxist and Leninist ideologies. Stalin supported a large centralized state, agricultural collectivization, and totalitarianism.
The two are apples and oranges. More different than they are similar. Yet they are often lumped together as “left-wing”. This is how it’s taught in schools, how it’s talked about on TV/radio… it’s obvious why people get confused.
So in short, Stalin was not a Liberal, and Glenn Beck is what one might call insane.