Freedom is absolutely one hundred percent free. The people who tell you otherwise are often the ones who stole it from you and now want to sell it back to you at a high price. They coin snappy slogans like "Freedom isn't Free" to try to make you, the wronged party in the transaction, feel guilty for quite logically being unwilling to pay them.
Freedom is free, but oppression is cheap and plentiful. Oppressors always seem to get a lot of bang for their buck, too. Stooges abound who will support philosophies and organizations that promote one sub-group's freedom at the expense of another's. Then a relatively freer organization will raise a banner representing freedom and it will be the best anyone can do, so sides are drawn up and conflict is pursued.
Freedom is free, but government costs money. Government as an outgrowth of thoughtful public debate is better than nothing, as long as conscience remains so unevenly distributed among humanity. And someone has to keep the infrastructure functioning. We all chip in, we all get something back.
Freedom is free, but societies are interdependent. Interdependence imposes limits. Grown-ups understand limits. Push yourself and the boundaries of human achievement, but don't get pushy and don't get grabby. Freedom is one thing. Rudeness is another. And greed is something else again.
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