It means something different in American political culture. The American right has successfully framed liberalism as illiberalism, and illiberalism as "freedom"

It means something different in American political culture. The American right has successfully framed liberalism as illiberalism, and illiberalism as "freedom". Classical liberals of course do not believe in positive rights. The American right started calling progressives who believe in positive rights "liberal" because unconditional access to social services seems permissive to an authoritarian. Ignorance and spite then ran unchecked for a few generations and authoritarians now use liberal as a pejorative for anyone not on their spectrum, raising hope that the term may boomerang into correct usage. Authoritarians currently refer to authoritarianism as "freedom".