Every adult should be able to make as many effective decisions without fear or favor about as many aspects of her or his life as is compatible with the like freedom of every other adult. That belief is the original and only defensible meaning of liberalism.
Judith N. Shklar, Bernard Yack (1996). “Liberalism Without Illusions: Essays on Liberal Theory and the Political Vision of Judith N. Shklar”, p.80, University of Chicago Press