Well, persecution is not the issue, but the nature of freemasonry is. Why taking an oath to keep things secret, if it is just nonsense?
And the argument, that everything is revealed already cannot be an argument for us. We copy the betrayal of others? Because someone else betrayed our oath, we can copy him with a clean conscience? No, I don't think so.
And at least for me and my brethren here, growth of the fraternity is not the goal, but growth of our character. We don't hide our lodge buildings, but you will find very few pictures of brothers in regalia, group pictures of the officers and such things in the internet. It is very different here, not because persecution, but because of choice and tradition. And, when you look into your own past, you will see, that masonry in the US was not always that public and progressively outward oriented, as it is today. It just developed that way, and it developed differently here in Europe.
There is a minority of brethren in the US, who want it our way. They call themselves Traditional Observance or European Style, and there are a minority of brethren here, who want it your way, but they are not organized, but spread across all grand lodges. It's all a matter of taste and tradition.