Liberty is like a Rubik’s Cube. It can be twisted and twisted such that it no longer looks like itself and it can be complicated to restore to its rightful appearance.
Authoritarians may even claim to love liberty but close examination of how they treat others reveals that this is not true. They seem to believe that it is their job to correct and limit what other people do according to the authoritarian’s standard. Often, they do not even notice this in themselves because the impulse is so deeply embedded in their sense of righteousness. These folks can be found on local councils and commissions over zoning and land use. They can be found on school boards and HOAs applying force of regulation to determine what is studied and what color residents can paint their houses. Others may randomly be found in the supermarket criticizing others for not wearing a medical mask in public or driving in the number one lane of the highway slower than lanes to the right in order to enforce their view of the speed limit on those behind. Nevertheless, authoritarians will not see this as in conflict with liberty.
Some people are afraid of liberty. They imagine conditions as found in post-apocalyptic films like “Mad Max”. They fear the liberty of their neighbor that they do know but trust the candidate for government office whom they have never met. They trust the message of government that businesses must be regulated or even shut down for the good of the public to prevent spread of some disease because they fear trusting in themselves.
Despite their fears of what the future might look like if their fellow citizens were free, they will justify the overbearing actions of the current government again in the name of the public good. They assume that if the police arrest someone that they must be guilty. Law Enforcement must have a good reason for deploying SWAT teams and search and surveil our homes and transactions. They must have a good reason to seize vehicles, boats, bank accounts, and cash without ever charging a person.
"When government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny." -Thomas Jefferson