Who stole all the freedom?

I was once sat in a doctors surgery, rather bored, waiting for my turn to go and be poked and prodded. As I sat in the half empty room someone came in, picked up a chair and left. No-one batted an eyelid. No-one missed the chair. We were all still sitting comfortably. Then someone else came in and took a chair. Same reaction. It occured to me that they could gradually take the chairs away like that, and no one would care. We would barely notice. Eventually there would be so few chairs left that new people coming in would have nowhere to site. People leaving the chairs to go in to an appointment, but who then needed to come back in and wait a while longer would find there was nowhere left for them to sit. I wonder if people would defend the last few chairs? They may do, but the rest would be long gone. All our freedom had been gradually taken away and we barely noticed, and never resisted. Sorry, I mean chairs. Don't I?