Thank you for that thoughtful — and thought-provoking — essay.

I think it is helpful to think about the difference between freedom and liberty. Sailors in the navy provide an excellent exemplar. (Small towns provide a similar, but less stark experience.)

When on a ship but not on duty sailors are free to do anything that is not against regulations. At the same time, on a ship there is always someone who knows where one is and what one is doing. When granted ‘liberty’ sailors can, if they want, get off to themselves such that no one from the ship knows where they are or what they are doing. So as a practical matter the difference between the freedom and liberty can be said to be anonymity.

That suggests that we can experience a loss of liberty without any loss of freedom. As ever, the price of freedom is vigilance, especially in the making and enforcing of the laws that do limit freedom.