The word "liberal" derives from the Latin "liber," meaning "free," and describes a mind unencumbered by either prejudice or indoctrination. The adjective "liberal," however, has become, at least in some circles, synonymous with anti-capitalism, anti-business, and therefore anti-American. This author has never lost faith that a liberal education remains the most effective method for producing an intellect both broad and deep. She encourages a mutual respect that can come, as James Axtell insists, "only when people learn to regard all other human beings, singly and in groups, as both different from and equal to themselves to understand them as much as possible in their own terms". That is the ultimate purpose, and a heroic one, of a truly liberal education.