In Dutch Politics, liberals has the opposite meaning of the word in American Politics, i.e. in the Netherlands the liberals form the conservative side of the political spectrum.
This peculiar contradiction came about since in the 17th century it was the rich bourgeoisie who first started to rebel against the existing powers, nobility, church and king. Those same rich bourgeoisie hung on to the name 'liberals' throughout modern Dutch political history and now make up the ruling class, not eager for reform.