The term, today, is not defined by what you think of the platform of a party that uses that name. The term, today, means what it has always meant, a belief that liberty is more important than security--or the demagogue's appeal for egalitarianism--and that man has free will, and therefore must be accountable.
Their concern about personal liberty seemed to disappear when it came to the States which were controlling of personal life on a far greater scale than today. It was to control the excessive freedoms of the States that the constitution was written.
There is no way that the States were controlling of personal life, on anything like the scale today. That is absurd! The Founding Fathers were not concerned about the level of personal freedom in the States, but about irresponsible fiscal policies--leading to unstable currency, etc. (The Constitution reflects their concerns in the delegations of power. They mostly relate to providing sound money, uniform weights and measures, communications--the means for developing a stable commerce--and defending the lot of us from any foreign threat. There is absolutely nothing about limiting or extending personal freedom within the States, in the Constitution.
William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site
One of the significant events which finally tipped the balance toward drafting the constitution was the Shays Rebellion which was essentially a demand by farmers in W. Mass to the state to pass laws abrogating their debt. States repeatedly passed laws undermining contracts and giving debtor relief during the preconstitution era. This was one of the greatest national problems and led to the constitutional demand to stop such practices.
While it was possible in the past to escape to the west laws in the civilized states were horridly oppressive: people were taxed to pay for churchs, vagrancy laws restricted freedom of movement, personal morals watched and punished when out of the norm, blacks could not own guns or vote, women could not vote and had no standing in court, whites could be drafted to the Slave Patrols, mails were searched and offensive material removed, people were tarred and feathered for their opinions, newspapers were destroyed in the south for being abolitionist and taken from the mails, literature was censored and removed from the mails, voting was highly restricted. The myth of greater freedom (other than for slaveowners and the rich) was just a myth swallowed hook, line and sinker by those preferring to ignore the facts of history.