The mainstream of liberalism continues on the path of gradual reforms, embraces electoral democracy as a basic liberal position and organizes itself in the form of the traditional liberal parties.
Liberalism in the United States was primarily defined by the self-proclaimed liberal presidents Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt.
Generally identified with the term 'Liberal' in current UK politics, they are the third largest political party, taking 22% of the vote in the last election, but due to the First Past the Post electoral system their representation in parliament is much smaller; it has around 10% of the seats at Westminster.
And so liberal democracy came to be defined primarily in legal and administrative terms, as the equal rights of citizens before the law and as the freedom of individuals to choose their representatives.
Whether this “liberation” of the market is synonymous with democracy, understood even in the most limited sense as being in the interest of the majority of people, depends on who and what is being liberated.
Price liberalization has meant removing price controls and limitations set by the government, which had assured that things like housing, utilities and transportation remained at a level that was affordable to the poorest and most numerous segments of society.