It's less a liberal thing and more a government thing. Solving a problem is hard, making a rule is easy, so people just tack rules on rules.

That and the incentive structure built in such a way that seeming to solve a problem is usually as or more advantageous then actually solving a problem. I work in government and the level of incompetence and beurocracy is just insane, people always think I'm being hyperbolic when I talk about it.