Liberty is a fragile thing. Throughout history, the strong have used government in one form or another to control the weaker. Then came the grand experiment in the new land. Representative government directed by a Constitution that could not be changed arbitrarily.
Other nations followed this model, but often failed. Those nations were quick to exchange their liberty for the promise of security... especially economic security. And then, not so surprisingly, economic security became economic repression followed by personal repression.
[brief advertisement before video starts ... click below]
[h/t Pat Dollard]
Of course, there is no danger of that in the United States.