FOCUS ON FREEDOM

"Give me liberty, or give me death!" These words, uttered at the conclusion of a rousing speech by Patrick Henry before the Virginia Assembly convened at Richmond on March 23, 1775, became the war cry of the American Revolution. Although there are some slight definitional differences between "liberty" and "freedom", we tend to use both concepts interchangeably. "Freedom," according to Merriam Webster, is defined as the absence of necessity, or constraint in choice or action. In philosophy "freedom" indicates the power of any living human being to exercise its will. Most of us feel that we know implicitly what we mean by "freedom." We refer to "the land of the free and the home of the brave" in our national anthem. We memorialize the sacrifices of our military fighting for and protecting our freedom. And we identify an entire subset of freedom in the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, freeing the slaves in Union controlled territory from previous restraint or legal disability. In short, invoking the word "freedom" has become an important trigger signal in our culture. The first amendment of our Constitution assures us five freedoms: speech, religion, press, assembly and the right to petition our government. As Americans, we expect to be free. The freedom to think and feel as we want, whenever we want. However, as what happens with many concepts that ought to be easy to understand, our politicians have managed to relegate the idea to a buzzword. While many candidates who are developing steam in the run-up to next year's election have made "freedom" the centerpiece of their electoral campaigns, few, if any, refer to it in abstract terms. Most identify freedom in terms of freedom from (whatever their competition is proposing) as opposed to freedom of or freedom for. President Joe Biden has made defending our basic freedoms the cause of his presidency. He has suggested that his 2024 campaign will involve a genuine philosophical debate about the meaning of freedom. The freedoms he has in mind include: "the freedom for women to make their own health-care decisions; the freedom for our children to be safe from gun violence; the freedom to vote and have the votes counted; and for seniors to live with dignity and have a shot at a good life." Governor Ron DeSantis, after he was reelected, used the word "freedom" twelve times in his inaugural address. His recent budget was dubbed the "framework for freedom," and his new book carries the title "The Courage to be Free." His campaign centers on freedom from the "woke ideology" and the "woke agenda." He never really defines what he means, other than anything proposed by President Biden. Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.) suggests that Americans need more freedom. "Freedom from [Biden's] crushing inflation, freedom from showing up at school board meetings to talk about your kids being considered domestic terrorists, and freedom from a wide-open, insecure, southern border." Donald Trump points out that "the left" wants to take away your guns, persecute Christians and push the transgender cult onto your children. Whatever Democrats and Republicans suggest the country needs, "freedom from" differs for either side. In his State of the Union address on January 6, 1941, FDR identified four principles of "freedom:" speech, worship, from want, and from fear. Most of us probably subscribe to these in principle. However, in practice they aren't all that simple. None of these work unless the vast majority of us agree to allow all of us to live up to these ideals. Freedom of speech and expression is a constitutionally protected right, legally restricted by constraints imposed by society, and politically eroding in a growing number of communities. Nationally, this right does not include incitement, defamation, fraud, obscenity, child pornography or threats. In Florida the "Parental Rights in Education," a.k.a. "Don't Say Gay," bill, restricts schools from teaching students about sexual education and gender issues. Book banning, which used to be concentrated in Florida, Missouri, South Carolina, Texas and Utah, are now reported in at least 32 states. Freedom of religion (worship) also includes freedom from religion. Besides, dangerous elements in our society appear to do anything they can to express their animosity to non-Christian beliefs. Freedom from want has become an economic football manipulated by our political representatives. Freedom from fear is pretty much meaningless as long as more of our kids are now killed with guns rather than by car accidents. And not to forget that we just commemorated "Juneteenth", a federal holiday depicting the official end of slavery in confederate states. A holiday which, unfortunately, is only legally recognized in 28 states. This event also drives home the point that the Emancipation Declaration, which nominally freed the slaves, was followed by Jim Crow laws introduced in many Southern states, specifically designed to enforce racial segregation, and, not so subtly, intended to reestablish another form of bondage for millions of Africans. Aside from our own struggles with freedom, it might be worthwhile to consider what freedom means to citizens from other parts of the world. What about Ukraine, where its citizens are desperately fighting to keep their country from being absorbed by cruel, criminal forces led by an internationally indicted dictator? And what about the tens of thousands of migrants from Haiti, Venezuela and elsewhere who are literally risking their lives every month to cross the Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama in search of freedom from persecution by criminal elements in their home country and desperate to find a way to support their families, no matter the cost? For us true freedom which nobody can deprive us of may be the freedom to think and feel as we want and when we want. Most of us probably believe that all our citizens ought to be free. Many of us comfortably subscribe to the notion that Americans ought to be free, no matter how they look, pray, love or live. For many others, to paraphrase the enduring words of lyrics composed by Kris Kristofferson and sung by Janis Joplin, freedom may just be another word for nothing left to lose. Theo Wierdsma