Not anymore. Since the beginning of the 20th century, these liberals have perverted the name "liberal" into those that want more central control over our lives. One can say in fact they want a return to an old aristocracy placing themselves in control. Hell, the only things liberals are "liberal" about are sex, drugs, and punishment. A more proper term is "leftist".
I totally agree with the self-interest take on liberals on being self-serving. One example is a recent argument where my leftist sister in law, who is in law school, was ranting and raving about taking prayer out of school because it propagated Judeo-Chrsitian religion. My question to her was why religion based colleges accepted government money on a regular basis; like Georgetown, Notre Dame, Villanova, TCU, etc. The answer is that all that government money coming from Pell grants, government research projects, student loans, etc., goes right into the pocket of university adminstrators, bureacrats and leftist professors.