[MtnClimber]

I have pointed this out to a few leftists. When I told them they were not liberal and tolerant, just marxist communists they spit and sputtered and got all in a huff.

[AppyPappy]

They aren’t leftists. They are Democrats. Liberals stay on issue. Democrats change with the narratives. Liberals will criticize the Democrats. Democrats will not. Liberals believe in free speech. Democrats sometimes do. Liberals are opposed to wars. Democrats support wars created by Democrats.

The problem is, there are fewer liberals today.

[BroJoeK]

Historically speaking, the word "liberal" refers to classical enlightenment figures like Thomas Jefferson:

"I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."
letter to Benjamin Rush, September 23, 1800

Today's leftist Democrats prefer to call themselves "progressives" rather than "liberals" and that is a distinction we should insist on.

American conservatives are the inheritors of Jefferson's 18th century enlightenment liberalism.
Progressives come from a much darker place -- 19th century Marxist authoritarianism.