Taking away freedoms has been part of the US since the inception.

We got lucky, some of us of the right color and socioeconomic background, to be in the US during one of its freedom stages. But black people, gay people, women, people who want to be able to join a union or have a weekend have been fighting in some kind of realm rhetorical or life-and-death physical for the right to have any kind of democracy stuff for themselves, against the US government, for centuries.

It’s coming true in unusually systematic and horrifying form right now. But it’s not new.

The US only ever had finite freedom because your founders only codified what could be free. If they had codified what wasn’t free you could have had infinite freedom.