What Happened to the Democrats?

I've been reading up on my American history, and it really seems like the democrats (founded by Thomas Jefferson, if I'm not mistaken) were THE pro-liberty party of the time, no?

What happened to them that turned them into the big-government loving fascists/socialists that we see today?

Discuss.

fascism is on the far right side of the political spectrum, communism is on the far left.

liberals are for more public programs to give those without the means to afford private programs the chance to have the same services, and regulations to keep companies from getting away with unethical business practices, tax loop holes, and forming monopoly's. we're very much against any government hand in our privacy or our free speech. the right seems to be generally the opposite, supporting businesses no matter what they do in their goal for profits, support their pricavy being chipped away for the sake of 'security', and in support the limit or ban on many types of media they considering immoral and dangerous and thus limiting free speech.