Czuch: "It cant be both.... we are free yet enslaved at the same time?"

Sure it can be. Just ask yourself what you need the government's permission to do now. And what the government does not permit you to do, whether or not you ask for it. Now compare that to what Americans in the past did not need permission for, and you begin to see the incremental progress of enslavement. Keep in mind, asking permission means you are not free, even if the permission is granted. What is granted can also be denied. And also observe, the chains are thickening, not weakening. Some slavery arrives instantly; some approaches gradually, so that we, as frogs, don't notice the water heating up....or if we do, it doesn't burn enough all at once to make us react.