The problem with tenure isn't academic freedom

The Chronicle yet again weighs in on tenure, and while I don't agree with much of what the article claims (some of which is poorly argued), one sentence stood out:

The fact is that nontenured and non-tenure-track faculty are toiling in undesirable positions at low pay and subsidizing the interests and security of tenured faculty members...

Exactly. The problem with tenure isn't that academic freedom might be under fire. The primary problem is that a shrinking number of tenured positions are subsidized by contingent faculty, who when they are doing research themselves in an effort to change those undesirable ones into desired ones don't have research freedom, or even in many cases, teaching freedom.There are places that attempt to provide comparable wage schemes for their contingent faculty, but others that don't, and as a whole, the discrepancy between what the tenured and not tenured are paid for teaching the same course remains. That's the problem of tenure, not whether or not academic freedom is at stake.