“Freedom” is such an appealing concept that it has a place at the centers of the Trump and Harris presidential campaigns. This is not to suggest that the centering of freedom creates an equivalence in some ideological or political way.
Quite to the contrary. The different iterations of freedom describe what may be the sharpest and most revealing divide in the nation. This distinction is, unfortunately, infrequently examined, thereby allowing each party to claim some moral and philosophical high ground.
Among the differences is the powerful contrast between freedom of religion and freedom from religion. Here, as in other instances, the prepositions place them worlds apart.
The First Amendment, like others among the Bill of Rights, gives generous latitude for interpretation. “Freedom of religion” inspires Christian Nationalists to push for Bible-based public school education and the Ten Commandments in every classroom. “Freedom from religion” moves folks like me to resist and resent the imposition of religion on anyone’s children, through teaching or omnipresent symbolism. The distinction should be obvious between the freedom to practice and the freedom to impose on others.
This characterizes many of the differing notions of freedom as held by our political factions.
Republicans, particularly those with MAGA hats, are aggressively concerned with their own freedoms, regardless of the broader societal impacts. Democrats and progressives are more often concerned with the freedoms of others, with the aggregate social good as a prime motivator.
Space precludes addressing every case in point, but here’s a representative sample.
MAGATs are universal in affection for gun rights. “From my cold, dead hands.” - emphasis on “my” - is their rallying cry. Progressives and other decent humans are much more concerned about the thousands of children’s “cold, dead hands” that result from unmitigated gun violence. In MAGA world, a stubborn person’s “freedom to” own a gun overrides a mourning parent’s “freedom from” a child’s funeral.
The Republican Party generally, and notoriously in dangerous proposals like Project 2025, see freedom as imperiled by business or environmental regulation. On a broad level, they believe that the “freedom” to operate a business and make a profit without pesky restrictions is sacrosanct. Any efforts to constrain free enterprise are “socialism” and successfully disparaged, enraging low information citizens who are led to believe their personal freedoms are also at stake. Others among us are less concerned about our own freedom to profit and more concerned about society’s freedom from economic exploitation, health risks and environmental degradation.
On a local or regional level, property rights are cherished by Republicans, damn the consequences. During my years in Vermont, efforts to establish zoning regulations were usually opposed by conservatives, who became quite animated when asserting the right to do as they pleased with their property, no matter the impact on neighbors or community. NIMBY may not be exclusive to Republicans, but they own the lion’s share.
MAGATs talk about freedom to vote, but it applies to them, not others. I await any example of progressives seeking to curtail the voting rights of white nationalists. In the person of JD Vance, MAGATs suggest that their children should have voting rights, while they plot to disqualify the certification of adult votes they don’t like.
Progressives have sought to ensure the freedom of immigrants, while MAGATs imprison children and offer mass deportation. The freedom of same-sex folks to marry is, apparently, a vile offense to the freedom and sensibilities of MAGATs to despise and dehumanize “the other.”
Any slight effort to recalibrate the scales of racial justice, like affirmative action, is a horrific assault on the freedom of some white kid who is wait-listed at Yale.
I don’t feel self-righteous at all when I advocate for reproductive freedom for women and transgendered young people. It costs me absolutely nothing to stand up for the freedoms of those who live on one margin or another, looking in at the privileges I and so many others take for granted.
So, I may be singing to the choir, but I wish more influential voices would carry this tune.
The most significant difference between MAGATs and Democrats is that they want freedoms for themselves and we want freedoms for all.