On the far right, we have the libertarians and "free market" Republicans, who believe nearly all government functions should be privatized. The Republicans in power are actively privatizing much of national defense, such as logistics, food service, and some security services, and they're even profiteering in doing so (consider Halliburton). They also work to privatize Social Security and many government services. Pure "free market" capitalism is their mantra, and left unchecked it is demonstrably unworkable.
On the far left, we have communists and socialists who believe all businesses should be nationalized, owned and run by the State. Pure communism and socialism are also proven by history to be unworkable. Liberals, Democrats or Greens, are far from aligning with communism or socialism, yet from the far right liberals are equated with the "extremist left."
Liberals are actually in the center, in between the far right and the far left. They are not extremists. They are pragmatists. They realize that for some things free markets work best and for other things government-regulation or government-management works best.
Unfortunately, Republicans have successfully redefined the center or the middle as the "extremist liberal left." The country has drifted so far to the right that there practically is no "left," much less a "far left".
What is not adequately communicated, in my opinion, is that liberalism is principled, logical, pragmatic, and workable.
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