People who get paid by the word rather than by the deed naturally gravitate toward twisting the language to make cheap talk sound profound - and socialism is nothing but cheap talk.Indeed the dictionary definition of socialism is irrelevant because the socialist so systematicallly conflates the term "social" with the term "governmental" as to be unable to distinguish between the two. The true meaning of socialism becomes painfully clear when you explicitly substitute the term "government" for "social" in the term "socialism." The resulting neologism, "governmentism," is a true description of the socialist project - and a nice synonym for "tyranny."
In the freedom-loving US, the term "socialism" was not nearly deceptive enough to make tyranny palatable and was therefore a failure as a brand. And that is why socialists who got paid by the word found it convenient to assign the meaning of "socialism" to the word "liberalism." But elsewhere the term "socialism" sufficiently masked they tyrannical project to allow it to become popular. Consequently anywhere outside the US, the term "liberalism" still means essentially the opposite of "socialism."
In this melieu the American who adopts the term "liberal" freely is a fool - and/or he is no friend of liberty, and takes you for a fool.
No sale. Why Broadcast Journalism is
Unnecessary and Illegitimate
media bias bump.