I often hear people claiming that they’re on the political left, though they don’t agree with the current leftists. They claim that they’ve been on the left all their lives—that they haven’t changed, the left has. They think they should still be considered politically left because it’s just the extreme left who has gone off the rails. But the former leftists who think this are wrong. They are no longer on the left, no matter how liberal their political beliefs are.
The “Left” is not and never was synonymous with “liberal.” The political left has no consistent core philosophy or principles other than progress from the status quo. So claiming, “I’ve been on the left my whole life, I haven't changed, they have,” is missing the entire point. The left is always changing. Their raison d'etre is change. If you don't change along with them, then you’re no longer on the left.
Nor should you want to be—but that doesn't mean you’re necessarily on the right, nor should you want to be. The right is also always changing—but only in reaction to the left. Conservatism likewise has no consistent core philosophy or principles other than to preserve the status quo. But because of the progress of the left, the “status quo” is always changing. Therefore, conservatives continually fight to conserve less and less conservative values. They want to retain the former progress of the left but no more than that—until they do. Examples abound of formerly “left” ideas now wholeheartedly embraced by the “right”: business regulations, Social Security, Medicare, gay marriage, and marijuana legalization, etcetera.
The only consistent political philosophy is that of libertarianism. Libertarians are further left than the left on some issues and further right than the right on other issues, which is why it is inaccurate to place them on either the left or the right. Libertarianism doesn't change with the times or react to the status quo. The core libertarian philosophy is the same as it always was and always will be, and it can be summed up in one word: freedom. Let people be as liberal or conservative as they want in their private lives but don't use the State to force any of those values on anyone else. Live and let live. The end.