When did liberals decide that “on line” replaced “in line” for “standing on line”?

A liberal coworker insisted on using it, as if it was a time-honored American English prhase, and NPR was filled with people trying to use it as much as possible.

Did Noam Chomsky send out a memo or something? And what disadvantaged minority does this make everything better for, like when we solved the abortion question by adopting “pro life” instead of “anti-abortion” and “pro choice” instead of “for abortion rights”?