From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:

  liberalism
      n 1: a political orientation that favors social progress by
           reform and by changing laws rather than by revolution
      2: an economic theory advocating free competition and a self-
         regulating market

Seems like the first definition is conservative-left. The second definition sounds like capitalism. Honest question here, but what am I missing?