The meaning of the term concrete freedom is decisive because it implies the notion of the quiet life cited earlier. The freedom to be left alone in safety--whether by official forces or by private persons of equal standing--is at the heart of the success of the social contract. This means that in a duly contracted society, there are limits placed on the actions of both official and private parties in respect of others, and that is why, as Reiman says, "Only those acts of force the renunciation of which enhance freedom for all should be crimes, and only those public exercises of force that enhance freedom are rightly granted to law enforcement."
This last statement is really the moral argument that Reiman uses to establish the concept that force, even deadly force, may legitimately be used. The very frame of legitimacy contains the notion of limits on official discretion; that implicit argument is made when Reiman refers to official power as being "loaned" to officials by those under official jurisdiction. At the same time, where a conceptual frame has b
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