President Bush gave a grand inauguration address that stressed liberty and freedom while shifting away from his typical emphasis on terror and fear. Rather shrewd, actually, to win the election by fear mongering and essentially telling the electorate that unless they elect you, they'll die, only to mark the historical record at the inauguration with a statement on freedom and liberty, photogenic ideals that inspire rather than dark emotions that intimidate. It was a good call, I agree.
I disagree with a couple implications of the speech though. Many Americans appear to have responded to it extremely favorably, pretty much as was intended. They didn't seem to understand that many nations and peoples outside of America's borders saw it as intimidating and threatening though. President Bush provide vague calls to action in support of freedom and liberty for people around the world and pulled out the gauntlet (if not throwing it down) in front of regimes and governments that do not provide for their people the expected freedoms. Essentially, Bush warned the world that it was their choice as to who set up the freedom in their countries. Like it or not, it was coming, and everyone had to choose whether to establish it themselves or let America come in and install it for them. Remote political administration of sorts.
I support the express statement in support of liberty, freedom, and self-rule. I think that America should take an ideological stand in this regard and seek to build and nurture wider democratic governance throughout the world. Is there really anyone in the US or Europe (and of course many other countries) who disagrees with this? It is uncontroversial to support democracy and strive to change the world in a way that empowers more people, offers them a better way of life, and ends up giving them at least some modicum of control over the way their lives are governed.
I believe that one of the best ways the United States can advance this cause is by assuming the mantle of freedom and liberty itself. Actions speak louder than words regardless of language and culture (indeed, actions are all we speak with to many people who tend to ignore speeches and promises and treaties). The United States needs to become a freer society that truly offers its citizens liberty to live their lives as they see fit.
Yet this is not possible now. In the United States, you are not free from indefinite incarceration without a trial. In the United States, you are not free from intrusion by the government into the personal choices you make in regard to how you wish to live your life. In the United States, you are not free from invasive surveillance, government raids, secret dossiers, and no-knock searches of your home. In the United States, you are legally forbidden from marrying your partner if your lifestyle doesn't fit the mold. In the United States, you are not free from harrassment based on your ethnic heritage. In the United States, you are not allowed to eat certain plants because the government has decided it disproves of the way ingesting them makes you feel. In the United States, you are not free to protect your personal and commercial interests as you see fit. In the United States, you will go to prison for years for possession of less than a fingertip sized amount of intoxicants yet you can steal millions and be home earlier. In the United States, women are currently destined to work for less pay than their relative male counterparts. In the United States, you can mismanage a company and squander billions of investor dollars and retire for $300,000 a month for the rest of your life. (Okay, these last few don't have squat to do with liberty but I couldn't help myself.)
The President has laid out an ambitious agenda that in general I support and applaud. But before we go about killing others in order to force liberty on them (Freedom is on the march!!), let's establish a free society at home first. The President (perhaps without realizing it) is arguing for a pluralistic, tolerant society, yet we have yet to succeed in establish that at home. The President has lofty dreams of fledgling democracies with emergent civic virtues, yet our own nations civic involvement has atrophied to a whiff of a shadow of what we had generations past.
As I wrote this, the amount of freedoms we DO have was brought into stark relief, almost to the point of making me feel a bit guilty about bitching about the freedoms we don't have. Yet as the President himself makes clear, there is nothing greater than a people free to live their lives according to their standards.
My point is not that the United States sucks; far from it. It is the greatest nation the known universe has produced. But greatest in its current form should not satisfy those of us with pride in our nation and pride in its ideals. The US can and should do better, especially if it is going to execute a strategy that establishes itself as the final arbiter of justice in a libertine sense.
Before we force others to live free, we ought to be doing the same ourself. Liberty does have limits, of course, but those limits ought to be prescribed according to how much permitting one activity results in limiting others. Choice is a good thing for the heart and mind, although it does require more effort. Freedom can best be protected by policies that permit the widest choices and impinge on people's options the least. If it doesn't hurt someone, allow it. If it excludes people, deny it. Gay marriage hurts none and empowers many; legal abortions preserve rights, outlawing it bans them; official prayers in schools exclude the non-sectarians, personal moments of silence permit all to reflect upon one's situation as they best see fit. The list is endless.
Lest we get too excited about freedom and liberty, we mustn't forget that equality is the first casualty of freedom. But it's clear to me that the President is less concerned about equality than he is freedom. I'm not prepared to sacrifice all equality, as some limitations on freedom are necessary to ensure freedoms for all (unless we subscribe to the maxim Might Makes Right?), but in general I agree with the President. The world needs more freedom. More freedom of being, more freedom of thought, more freedom of action. Let's be sure to take advantage of it for ourselves too.
You've got the freedom to make comments. Take advantage.
Posted by Nutrimentia at January 27, 2005 09:42 PM | TrackBack