The liberal brand name

If you were a "liberal" it used to mean that you believed in free markets and thought that government activities should be basically limited to providing for the common defense and enforcing contracts.

In the U.S., alas, the left took over the term liberal and irrevocably got it associated with massive government intervention in the economy . The left, however, has made the term "liberal" so unpopular that leftists now call themselves progressives.

So in short the left stole the liberal political brand name, trashed it and are now in the process of abandoning it.