The way I see it in America is any real left political representation was destroyed during the cold war and the liberals co-oped the language of the left while cleansing it of it's economic ramifications. When you think of how many activists and organizers in the 60s were openly socialists vs today it tells a lot. MLK Jr. and Rosa Parks for instance are these liberal heroes but their significance as socialists is completely whitewashed, they're "courageous individuals" now who "inspire," not radicals who had a wholly different vision of American society.

Phil Ochs summarized a liberal as "ten degrees to the left of center in good times, ten degrees to the right of center if it affects them personally."