The ideological promise was that, through capitalism and imperialism and resource extraction and privatization, this would create freedom and democracy and prosperity and abundance and all that bullshit.

I'm not fucking stupid. I know that the actual material goals of liberalism have always been to exploit and oppress the working class while enriching a small elite. What I'm saying is that liberal ideology promises to deliver social progress through economic growth. "A rising tide lifts all boats." It doesn't, obviously, but that promise is the siren song that creates false consciousness for millions of working class people who fall into liberalism.

People who do not benefit from liberalism nonetheless have liberal ideology and I don't think you're grappling with this contradiction.