Let's be precise; the left started doing it. We are literally discussing how big parts of the political left in the US is moving away from the liberal ideals and philosophy that it once embraced and championed.
There should be a term for this, when conservatives in USA have so little exposure to actual leftists that they confuse MSNBC, the Democratic Party, and censorious anklebiters with "the Left". Here's a hint: actual leftists aren't cheering on the persecution of Assange, like everyone on MSNBC is.
No true Leftist, hmm? Okay, I'll humor you, what should we call "MSNBC, the Democratic Party, and censorious anklebiters" (sic) and the rest of the broad coalition to the left of the American center, if not the left?
Aside from that, if you're suggesting I'm a conservative (no worries, it's a common mistake; it's tough being politically homeless), I'm a liberal unhappy with the broad coalition that used to be called the left. If that makes me a "conservative" in your eyes, well, there probably should be a term for that too.
As you admit here, in any nation in Europe (or any nation in Latin America whose government wasn't recently installed by CIA), the name for MSNBC and the Democratic Party would be "the Right". Even in USA, they're the ones banging the drums most loudly for global thermonuclear war.
Your dissatisfaction is that you aren't a pure liberal. If you were, you would go along happily with their efforts to conserve this mess they've created. You just have an unfortunate fixation on the Bill of Rights or whatever. Keep in mind that Madison owned slaves when he wrote that, just as he had owned slaves when writing and campaigning for the Constitution the excesses of which the Bill of Rights pretended to control.
The term exists and it is called the Overton Window. It has been an intentional tactic and it is happening across several political spectra. For example, being against illegal immigration now gets you labelled anti-immigration. Wanting the police to be held accountable for their actions is now considered leftist instead of normal. Being anti-vax is considered a personal choice worthy of consideration instead of a fringe/lunatic view.
We could get rid of illegal immigration instantly just by changing immigration law. But I’m guessing that folks that say they are only against illegal immigration wouldn’t be happy with that outcome either. So I wonder what it is that they are really against?
you're going to continue to be downvoted but it's the truth. when Jon Stewart was going against the grain of the widely-accepted political narrative of the Bush administration, it was easy to agree with him calling out bullshit. when the political pendulum swung the other way, however...
Liberals started doing it.