not always

"There is, always, always, always, and inevitably, a tradeoff between personal freedom and personal safety / security (all other things being equal, at least)."

Not always. None of my personal freedom is lost from the security gained by going to the SSL version of Girl Chat versus the unencrypted version. Empowering people who won't abuse their powers doesn't cause anyone to lose freedom, although those who do abuse their powers (e.g. corrupt police) certainly can. Police is a bad example, as their powers are mostly harassment and incarceration, but I meant more like allowing certain people to carry concealed firearms. Personal defense that's only used defensively.