Freedom from what?

By on March 28, 2012 in Conservatives, Democrats

Medicare for me only.

The definition of freedom is at stake this week in the Supreme Court.

Franklin Roosevelt defined the state that all Americans hope to enjoy best with the Four Freedoms.

  • Freedom of speech and expression
  • Freedom of worship
  • Freedom from want
  • Freedom from fear

Conservatives have a different kind of freedom in mind.

They want freedom from you.

That want to be free to not care about their fellow Americans unless it’s time to invade a country. They want to be free of taxes yet entitled to every benefit that taxes pay for. They want to be free of the sick, though they will be sick, too. They want freedom from being born into a society where we share a common concern for the nation’s general welfare.

Jonathan Cohn points to this excellent post by on Slate.

This case isn’t so much about freedom from government-mandated broccoli or gyms. It’s about freedom from our obligations to one another, freedom from the modern world in which we live. It’s about the freedom to ignore the injured, walk away from those in peril, to never pick up the phone or eat food that’s been inspected. It’s about the freedom to be left alone.

30,000,000 Americans may be denied if the conservative version of freedom is to pretend that we’re not all in this together.

REMINDER: We already pay for our fellow Americans health care. The only question is if we’ll continue to do it in a way that costs trillions more than it should.


  • aielman

    That’s about as large of an oversimplification as I think you can come up with.

    Good job.

    • Alkonost

      How so, aielman? What did Pete write that was not a correct assessment of the larger theme in what seems to be every demand the GOP rallies behind?

    • http://twitter.com/JohnDThorpe John Thorpe

      If you can’t refute the basic case against you, I doubt you’ll be able to muster much defense against an even more laid-out argument.

      Republicanism is selfishness and stupidity, wrapped in a flag and hung outside a church. It is as vulgar as the porn I’ve got tabbed in the other window.

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  • http://profiles.google.com/jlsr3353 Jo Losturo

    I am NOT free from “want,” as long as I want for healthcare coverage.

  • Aviel Menter

    I don’t think that freedom from other people is an inherently bad philosophy. I shouldn’t have to support others more than is necessary. It’s just that the republicans take it to the extreme.

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