Equal Freedom: The Obama Doctrine
5/7/2010 4:41:18 PM

The word "freedom" is used by conservatives today again and again to point to the core of their political philosophy, but the type of freedom they are talking about represents a selfish individualism. It is freedom for individuals to not have to think about any of their own responsibilities. We have seen the results of this kind of definition of freedom in the financial crisis, as reflected in a book I just finished called The Big Short. We are now seeing it in the environmental crisis taking place right now in the Gulf of Mexico where an oil rig exploded due to the failure of British Petroleum to install the proper safety valves, and the failure of government to require such.

For conservatives the word "freedom" has become an ideological screen for allowing large corporations to do whatever they want no matter how much their actions damage the lives of real people in civil society, the local community, and the environment. The corporations have been able to buy the minds of intellectuals who will support the ideas of individual freedom, ususally called "libertarians," without thinking about the actual social nature of human beings and their communities, the actual social nature of corporations themselves, and what freedom really means in terms of social responsibility.

Freedom means something more than the idea that I can do anything I want, something more than the Tea Party mantra "Don't tread on me," something more than taking advantage of others in financial dealings and then claiming that the suckers should be "responsible" for themselves, something more than social darwinism ("the strong survive, I am strong so I am entitled to survive, let the weak die").

There is a great discussion going on about a larger concept of "freedom" at The Democratic Strategist: A Journal of Public Opinion and Political Strategy. This is a journal trying to look deeper into political philosophy in a practical manner over a longer time-span than the next election. John Schwarz, Distinguished Senior Fellow at Demos, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Arizona, and the author, most recently, of Freedom Reclaimed: Rediscovering the American Vision, has written an article entitled: Reclaiming the Ideal of Freedom For Progressivism and the Democratic Party, with several others commenting on the article.

Schwartz says Barack Obama has articulated what Schwartz calls a concept which can be called "equal freedom" with reference to the founders such as Thomas Jefferson (who today's libertarians would call a socialist) and one of our greatest presidents, Abraham Lincoln. He says:

Ultimately, the Obama Doctrine not only advances the most fundamental political value that has inspired Americans through the ages, including its connection to shared sacrifice for others and the common good. It not only builds upon basic principles that Americans intuitively understand and accept. At the same time, it promotes the most deep-felt economic interests of everyday Americans—crucial to both Democratic and independent swing voters alike, and many Republicans too— that the flawed individualistic conception of freedom has so egregiously abused for nearly two generations now. It is an exceptional political combination.

I have read Schwarz's book, Reclaiming Freedom, and strongly recommend it as well as this article with its responses. If there is one thing that needs more thought today it is practical political philosophy.


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