Political freedom, that is, the right to vote and hold public office for all members of society was virtually unknown before the nineteenth century. The Nineteenth Amendment extended the right to vote to all citizens regardless of gender. Despite these Constitutional assurances many Americans were denied basic political rights until the Civil Rights legislation of the 1960s and 70s. Economic freedom, which is the individual right to pursue one's own economic goals and objectives as long as no harm comes to others, is severely limited in most parts of the world. It is always ringed about by envy and covetousness which invite breaches of the peace and denial of economic freedom by people in power.
Economic freedom is an easy prey to political force.
It is the first thing that is lost when tyranny advances. When the devotees of power speak of freedom they usually mean the freedom of the body politic, especially of its leaders holding the reins of government. Their concept of freedom is holistic and collectivistic. Hitler used to discourse about the freedom of the German people, Stalin about the freedom of the Soviet society, and Castro about the freedom of Cuba from imperialistic U.S.A. All forms of tyranny build on some collectivistic notion of freedom. The concept of freedom most popular in the United States connotes the freedom from want and poverty, from poor housing, ill health, and poor education.