I assume we agree with what liberalism is, the question is what liberalism does.
Saying the latter doesn't matter, is assuming liberalism will be judged by a liberal audience. But that's cheating. Most people are illiberal, more than you, more than me. Liberalism needs to survive their judgement too.
How I judge liberalism doesn't matter. I don't call the shots. I am asking you to think about how most people judge liberalism. It's not popular, which you can see in e.g. opinion polls on various things. Can an undemocratic liberalism hold fast? Is it even liberalism at that point?
To be clear, there are plenty of ways we can improve on the American status quo that don't ditch liberalism --- such as constitutional reform for far more democratic voting systems. But I fear they are very unlikely because by the time we had the political will for such huge steps, there will be a lots and lots of discontent and the baby will be thrown out with the bathwater.
(In that example, I think constitutional reform is scary to many people because they think that will open the floodgates to eviscerating their favor parts of the Bill of Rights.)
