The American conservative establishment in the USA is flush with schools, think tanks, foundations and theories of politics and economics. Libertarians, which I lump together with conservatives, always refer to the Austrian school of economics of von Mises. When you talk with a committed libertarian the discussion will often come back to the ideas of von Mises and others. Yet, when talking about liberal principles, it is hard to name a theory that encompasses even 2/3 of what American liberalism is about.
It is critical for American liberalism to fuse into a coherent school or a college of schools of thought on what liberalism means. All too often, liberalism is what's left over after you itemize your objections to conservatism and it's many variants.
Conservatives understand the fundamentals of power in a more visceral way than do liberals. Conservatives are more organized and much better funded. If we are to maintain the achievements of progressive structures in the USA, Liberalism will have to get established as an institution. Liberals will have to quit "organizing" like cats. We must begin to establish the pillars of liberalism for all to see and understand. We must step forward to promote American liberalism as a distinct area of study. Liberalism should be the focus of scholarship and the basis of foundations far in advance of what may exist at present.