Can anyone tell me when and how the term "Liberal" changed. The word root means freedom, and the original meaning (now called "Classical" Liberal) advocated freedom for citizens. Today it universally seems to advocate freedom for state in contrast with freedom for citizens.

In hindsight, it seems like a rhetorical trick, but I doubt it was. That seems a bit too clever.
Perhaps it was a gradual process where early liberals just let their philosophy slowly become corrupted, until the name lost its original meaning.

I'm interested here in the damaging evolution of language, and what other political words are being hijacked today, and how can we stop that process.