The rules of language have always been subject to change.
I've got no problem with you wanting the definition of liberal to remain what it originally was.....but I think if you are honest about it you will agree that the original definition is not the one commonly used today.
When someone says a country was decimated, I'm not going to assume they mean one in ten people were killed. When they talk about liberals in a political discussion, I'm not going to assume they mean a person who follows Locke.
I guess the point of all this is that when language does change, it has to be by consensus. Not by some political hack out to demonize his perceived enemies. I accept change, but only when it's legitimate change. I'm not going to admire the emperor's new clothes when I can easily see he's buck naked.
Fair enough. I think there has been that consensus, at least based on what I see and hear of the use of liberal. I'm not going to claim any expertise or to have a bunch of data backing that up, though. It's just my impression.
Here's a good example of where loose definitions lead -- this is from another thread but the effect is obvious:
who do we blame for a screwed up society full of angry people who resort to violence???
How about Hollywood, the music industry, ghetto culture, fatherless families, Washington DC--------in other words--liberalism.
So here's a guy who actually uses "liberalism" to refer to cultural aspects... traits that don't even relate to politics, let alone the left or right.
And he's not alone. That's why definitions matter.
(And yet ironically, he may be closer to the real meaning than the conflation of Liberal with left -- in that Liberalism, believing in keeping the government's hands off expression, is what allows Hollywood et al to do what it wants. His mistake is attributing that industry's exploitation of the baser swill of human nature to a political movement. He conflates psychology with politics; the specific cultural direction with the philosophy that simply allows such direction (or any direction) to exist.)