When someone keeps repeating a word, it’s a sign they’re trying to convince themselves as much as the audience. So when “freedom” got tossed around like confetti at the recent grand left-wing convention, you’ve got to wonder what’s really going on.
Let’s be honest: Progressives, the folks who seem to have never met a government regulation they didn’t love, are now the ones shouting “freedom” the loudest. Strange, right? But here’s the thing: When the champions of control start waving the “freedom” banner, it reeks of overcompensation. After all, their version of “freedom” comes with a lot of fine print.
And that’s exactly what we’re here to discuss: the “fine print” of today’s liberalism that will usher in the opposite of what they claim to represent.
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First things first, we need to highlight the deception at play. The word games are designed to muddy the waters of the great American ideal of liberty.
According to the New York Times, progressives used the word “freedom” a whopping 227 times during their convention, in addition to decking the arena with “freedom” signs like it was some kind of Orwellian pep rally. The far-left ABC News put it this way: “The word ‘freedom’ [was] seemingly on the lips of every attendee and speaker — and the name of Beyoncé’s hit song and now-campaign anthem.”
The follow-up question is obvious: Whose version of “freedom” are we talking about?
In the American tradition, freedom isn’t some vague notion — it’s grounded in a “social compact” of limited government and individual rights. It’s about what the government can’t do and what it must do: protect our lives, liberty, and pursuit of happiness, as laid out in our founding charter, the Declaration of Independence.
American freedom is about curtailing state power, not expanding it under the guise of progress.
These ideas weren’t original to Americans, of course — they trace back to political philosopher John Locke, who himself was influenced by Samuel Rutherford, a Scottish theologian who boldly argued that kings are also subject to God’s law.
There’s only one true sovereign, and much to the left’s dismay, it’s not Caesar.
The bottom line is that American “freedom” is rooted in protecting God-given rights from government overreach, a belief that is centuries old. That’s why the Bill of Rights is essentially a list of restrictions on federal authority, and the Constitution spells out the specific, narrow roles of each branch.
Spoiler: You won’t find nationalized healthcare enumerated anywhere. The founders designed a government of boundaries, not a blank check for endless state intervention.
Yet the left’s idea of “freedom” means expanding the government’s scope in ways that are completely at odds with our republic’s constitutional framework. Just look at the agenda rolled out in Chicago: “Healthcare should be a right,” taxpayer-funded Medicare expansions, subsidized childcare, free preschool, a higher minimum wage, and welfare-style tax credits. Add in “America’s first national paid family and medical leave program,” and it’s a recipe for endless debt on top of the $35 trillion hole we’re already in.
To these people, “Government is the answer, almost no matter the question,” as the Wall Street Journal observes.
This spin on freedom isn’t new. Progressives have long hijacked the concept, twisting it into “freedom from want.” Back in FDR’s era, he justified his “New Deal” with the claim that “necessitous men are not free men,” setting the stage for decades of government activism disguised as liberation.
In practice, though, liberalism’s sappy slogans are an on-ramp to tyranny. The left remains obsessed with micromanaging every facet of our lives, embedding their “cradle to grave” paternalism into the U.S. code.
For instance, the Federal Register, which logs every drafted and final rule, is set to cross 100,000 pages in 2024 alone. These rules are more than merely red tape — they’re “hidden taxes” that total a jaw-dropping $1.9 trillion annually, hitting businesses and consumers hard. Indeed, if the economic burden of U.S. regulations was its own nation, it’d be the “world’s ninth-largest economy” — bigger than South Korea!
Progressive “freedom” is not about liberating individuals — it’s about placing them under the thumb of the state.
And the libs don’t even try to hide it.
Recently, Human Rights Campaign president Kelley Robinson brazenly dismissed the Constitution, saying, “For us right now, [it’s] about reimagining freedom and this American story in a way that is more revolutionary than what our founders actually put down on that little piece of paper.”
This “story” is an old, ugly one.
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 fact the High Road to Servitude.”
Progressives keep cackling the word “freedom,” but their true aim is clear: shackles.
Originally published at the Standing for Freedom Center.
Jason Mattera is a New York Times bestselling author and Emmy-nominated journalist. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
