The free arts are what they teach you in prison. Peregrine Worsthorne, the brilliant British archbishop of conservative crankiness saw this distinction very early in life. In class the bullies were kept in order by a master who was free to coerce them. Out of class they were free to coerce me. Later, he read Hobbes, who made the case more clearly.
Subjects have no greater liberty in a popular than in a monarchical state.
That which deceives them is the equal participation of command. Which gets us to democracy. Democracy is not sacred, holy, or divine. The fettishizing of democracy may be necessary in a country like ours to preserve our liberties, but that doesn't mean democracy is synonymous with liberty or freedom in the positive sense. Democracy, as Churchill observed, is simply the best and most reliable system yet devised for preserving liberty.