When freedom means slavery

By Jason MatteraOpinion Department Associate Friday, September 6, 2024

When someone keeps repeating a word, it’s a sign that they’re trying to convince themselves as much as the audience. So when “freedom” was thrown around like confetti at a recent major leftist convention, you have to wonder what was really going on.

Let’s be honest: progressives, people who have never, it seems, encountered a government regulation they didn’t love, are now shouting “freedom” the loudest. Strange, isn’t it? But the thing is, when the control advocates start waving the banner of “freedom,” it stinks of overcompensation. After all, their version of “freedom” is embellished with a lot of small letters.

And that is exactly what we want to talk about here: the “fine print” of today’s liberalism, which will lead to the opposite of what they claim to represent.

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First, we must emphasize the deception involved. The wordplay is intended to muddy the waters of the great American ideal of freedom.

According to the New York Times, progressives used the word “freedom” a whopping 227 times during their rally, in addition to festooning the arena with “freedom” signs as if it were some Orwellian rally. Far-left ABC News put it this way: “The word “freedom” (was) seemingly on the lips of every attendee and speaker — and the title of a Beyoncé hit and a campaign anthem.”

The next question is obvious: whose version of “freedom” are we talking about?

In the American tradition, freedom is not some nebulous concept—it is based on a “social package” of limited government and individual rights. It is about what government cannot do but must do: protect our lives, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, as our founding charter, the Declaration of Independence, states.

American freedom is about limiting the power of the state, not expanding it under the guise of progress.

Of course, these ideas were not original and came from the Americans – their source was the political philosopher John Locke, who in turn was influenced by Samuel Rutherford, a Scottish theologian who boldly argued that kings were also subject to God’s law.

There is only one true ruler, and much to the disappointment of the left, it is not Caesar.

The bottom line is that American “liberty” is rooted in protecting God-given rights from government abuse, a belief that goes back hundreds of years. That’s why the Bill of Rights is essentially a list of limits on federal power, and the Constitution defines specific, narrow roles for each branch of government.

Spoiler: You won’t find government health care mentioned anywhere. The Founders designed a government of borders, not a blank check for endless government intervention.

But the left’s idea of ​​“freedom” means expanding the scope of government in ways that are completely at odds with the constitutional framework of our republic. Just look at the program outlined in Chicago: “Health care should be a right,” taxpayer-funded Medicare expansions, subsidized childcare, free pre-kindergarten, a higher minimum wage, and welfare-style tax breaks. Add to that “America’s first national paid family and medical leave program,” and you have a recipe for endless debt on top of the $35 trillion hole we’re already in.

As the Wall Street Journal notes, for these people, “government is the answer, no matter what the question.”

This interpretation of freedom is nothing new. Progressives have long co-opted the concept, twisting it to mean “freedom from want.” In the FDR era, he justified his “New Deal” by claiming that “needy people are not free people,” which ushered in decades of government activism under the guise of liberation.

In practice, however, liberalism’s sentimental slogans are an on-ramp to tyranny. The left remains fascinated by micromanaging every aspect of our lives, building its cradle-to-grave paternalism into the American code.

For example, the Federal Register, which records every draft and final version of regulations, is expected to exceed 100,000 pages in 2024 alone. These regulations are more than just bureaucracy—they are “hidden taxes” that total a staggering $1.9 trillion per year, hitting businesses and consumers hard. Indeed, if the economic burden of U.S. regulation were its own country, it would be the “ninth largest country in the world”—larger than South Korea!

Progressive “freedom” does not consist in liberating individuals but in subjecting them to the power of the state.

And liberals don’t even try to hide it.

Recently, Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson brazenly dismissed the Constitution, saying, “For us, this is about reimagining freedom and this American story in a way that is more revolutionary than what our founders actually put down on this little piece of paper.”

This “story” is old and ugly.

More than 50 years ago, economist Friedrich Hayek warned that “the promise of greater freedom has become one of the most effective weapons of socialist propaganda,” noting that “what was promised to us as the Road to Freedom was in reality the High Road to Serfdom.”

Progressives still cackle at the word “freedom,” but their real goal is clear: shackles.

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Originally published at Standing for Freedom Center.