[calinet6]

That last point is the kicker to me.

We need to start understanding that there is no such thing as a natural state of freedom; there is only freedom from and freedom to, within specific environmental constraints and power structures. We are always influenced--the question is just what influences we want to prevent, design, or control and which we want to leave undesigned or "free."

[whimsicalism]

Philip Pettit's writing on the difference between freedom as non-interference and freedom as non-domination are very interesting on this issue.