There's no such definition, where did you get that from? The only definition is "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance".

> If you're afraid of what the government might do, you're really afraid of what your fellow citizens might do.

In non-fantasy land all power corrupts.

> you might want to pass a law that makes it illegal for a bank to refuse to offer basic services to you

We don't pass laws, our representatives do, we select reps from a pool of candidates but becoming a candidate outside of the established parties is subject to the regulations established by these parties... you get the idea.

> As a citizen of a small country with decently long democratic traditions, I've always found American attitudes like that weird.

There's bliss and then there's reality... which happens to be weird, unfortunately.

So yes, our country is founded on not letting that happen, not letting your neighbors have that kind of power over your life, via the old world/European direct killing/starvation/exile from society or a modern world reimaged debanking that basically strangles you to death with the burden of just existing in the modern world without modern finance/electronic funds/card payment.

In the US there are strict banks and then there are immigrant/human friendly banks like US Bank. I can easily change banks. I can't exist in a right to life/liberty/happiness way with no bank, and the government can't take that right away unless I have been convicted and a judge ruled that in my circumstances specifically it should be taken away.