Beardedbruce: it is exactly right that many of those on the Left are far from liberal. Those on the far left, and I think they call themselves "Progressives" these days, are not at all liberal.   Tootler and Don Firth have given excellent definitions of the word "liberal". Redefining it to mean everything that people with a particular point of view are opposed to basically results in the English language being left without a way to easily express the position that "liberal" has always meant. This is not the only such situation. We really can no longer use the word gay to mean "joyous and lively" or straight to mean "upright".