Are we really a free country

[Chuck Gallagher]

I recall recently seeing a man on TV who refused to wear a mask to protect other people he might be near from possible undiagnosed COVID he might transmit say that "he woke up that morning in a free country and he did not have to wear a mask". I learned two weeks later that he had just died of the disease. His statement has made me revisit my high school social studies class and what we were taught about the definition of freedom.
The Declaration of Independence said for reasons stated therein that we were now "free and independent states" from Great Britain.
The U.S. Constitution said that the people of each state will elect representatives to make laws and rules for the general good that upon agreement of their State or Federal Congress and in some cases the supreme court the people will abide by.
The Bill of Rights laid out what all citizens were free to do and no local, state or federal law could be made that violated those articles.
So these rules and laws for the general good were what some call the guard rails of daily life, like traffic signals and speed limits for example.
Now some states Governors issued temporary orders for local law enforcement to issue tickets to anyone who refused a request to wear a face mask in public or violated public gathering size or curfew rules; orders that were made for the general good of us all not unlike a speeding or cell phone violation.
Do these laws for the general good of us all mean we really are not living in a "free country" or is freedom not really free of personal responsibility?
Tell me what you think. Did I miss something in the bill of rights or is our democracy actually not a free country, or something else?
Chuck Gallagher