I don’t think you were attracted to liberalism per se then, you were attracted to the libertarian aspects of pre-2000s liberalism. Modern liberals are authoritarians, because there is nothing about either liberalism or conservatism that mandates whether they be authoritarian or libertarian, it varies by era. But don’t make the mistake of associating liberalism with tolerance or free speech -- those may be liberal values in some eras, but they are always libertarian values. Because “liberal” and “conservative” change their meaning over time, no one should establish a permanent identification as one or the other. In particular, you have to see if “your side” is using authoritarian means to achieve their goals -- if they are, they are probably the bad guys.