Ever see the film about the construction of Hoover Dam? Those guys worked! That's what public projects were about in those days: providing people who wanted to work - and knew how to work - with jobs.
Don't think you're right when you say old time liberals no longer exist. I'm one of them. We're just as baffled as conservatives about the new PC reality, and perhaps even more confused as to what to do about it.
That's why you're here. This is the tip of the spear.
We need a fierce defense of what our forebears established and our Greatest plus Cold warrior Generations defended. I mean very fierce.
The blowback from failure could mean losing our constitutional freedoms (including privacy and religious tolerance, and not the Jerry Falwell type).
Defending the second amendment, marriage, borders, and western democracy means that we go just a little while longer before the free for all starts.
Think about it.