Do You Feel Less Free?
November 1st, 2009 by John Creighton in Dispatches
Tags: WTC
Nelson Mandela's Cell by Sara Atkins
“Americans in the most personal, daily ways feel they are less free than they used to be. And they are right, they are less free,” wrote Peggy Noonan in the July 24, Wall Street Journal.
Do you feel less free?
I’ve asked that question of many people in the past few months. The typical response is, “What do you mean?”
I enjoy Ms. Noonan’s essays. I recommend her book Patriotic Grace. But this particular comment has been bugging me for months. As my son might say, “No offense, but she’s wrong!”
What are the “freedoms” Ms. Noonan refers to? What are people being forced to do or prohibited from doing?
Restricted freedom of speech? I can’t imagine people feeling more embolden to say almost anything in a public forum. The rhetorical nature of public discourse is often beyond the pale.
Restricted freedom of religion? Mega churches are one of the growth institutions over the past decade or so. People shop for religions like they shop for other consumer items.
Restrictions on the rights to bear arms? My friend who manufactures parts for automatic weapons complains about the paperwork but has no problems carrying his concealed handgun. All indications from the current Supreme Court are that the Second Amendment will be protected.
Lack of due process? The complaints I’ve heard about due process over the past several years regard immigrants and war-on-terror detainees not citizens.
Invasions of privacy? I can understand this concern but many Americans seem perfectly comfortable posting intimate details of their lives for the whole world to see on sites such as Facebook and MySpace.
Perhaps, on this point, Ms. Noonan is referring to the absurd process we go through in airport security lines, which she describes with the frustration I often feel in Patriotic Grace. I concur that airport security is demeaning but, for most Americans, it is not a part of daily life.
Ms. Noonan also writes that people are afraid that “overseers” will tell us, “Which simple joys are allowed and which are not?”
What simple joys are we being deprived of now? Not letting our children ride in cars without seatbelts? What simple joys are under siege? Driving our car while we send text messages?
I interview people for a living. I talk to people on a regular basis about health care, education, the economy and community life.
The simple joy I hear people lament lacking most is time with their family and friends. Why? Because many people feel overextended and overwhelmed. They feel as though they’ve lost control over their daily lives. But a loss of control is very different than a loss of freedom.
For much of the past two decades, if not longer, we Americans have over spent and over scheduled. We built lifestyles that require two household incomes not one. We bought houses and cars we couldn’t afford. We scheduled so many activities for our children and ourselves that we have to write in the margins of our calendars. Money strapped and time starved does make people anxious.
Here’s how I described this “age of anxiety” in a speech I gave shortly before the current recession:
| “People are tentative about the future. Most families are not living in crisis, yet people express a deep ambivalence about our modern lifestyles. People enjoy our nation’s prosperity but question an economy that requires two incomes to make ends meet. They marvel at health care miracles but question our dependence on pharmaceuticals. Parents relish the many opportunities they can afford their children but struggle to find time for family. And, people relish their freedom but struggle with shrinking social networks and spikes in depression.” |
The recession clearly has exacerbated the precarious position people have found themselves in for years. Some have been pushed over the edge and are enduring tough times. But, if we are honest with ourselves, we brought on many of these anxieties foolishly believing there never again would be rainy days.
I write this post not to take on Ms. Noonan or get in a debate about freedom. I love freedom, too. I write this to make a distinction between losing freedom and losing control of daily life.
Characterizing the frustrations Americans feel to “lost freedoms” makes out the American people to be nothing more than helpless victims. Blaming Americans’ anxieties on faceless “overseers” suggests that Americans can’t retake control of their lives. I beg to differ.
I often think of a woman I interviewed from Colorado Springs when I asked, “Is it hard to make ends meet these days? Is it hard to make time for family?”
“I have little sympathy for parents who say they both have to work to make ends meet,” she said. “We made many sacrifices so I could stay home. We live in a small house. My husband rides a bike to work. Our kids don’t have fancy clothes. That’s our priorities.”
Personal choices not government interventions are what cause most of the anxieties people feel. But that’s good news. If we got ourselves into this mess, we can get ourselves out.
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Picture credit: Nelson Mandela’s Cell by Sara Atkins on Flickr creative commons.
2 Responses to “Do You Feel Less Free?”
How is freedom under attack? Let me count the ways. Regarding freedom of speech, surely you have heard about McCain-Feingold, and the recent restrictions on political speech passed by the Longmont City Council. You know that people have to actively fight Congress to ensure that health care workers are not forced to participate in abortion as part of Obama’s health care agenda. You have heard of the many speech codes on college campuses, places that used to be cherished for their free exchange of ideas. You certainly know of the many ways taxes have been raised, restricting people’s freedom to do what we want with our own money. You have seen the dozens of pieces of “art in public places” in Longmont, each one a tangible indication that certain people feel entitled to force other people to pay for their pet projects. You must have heard about the federal efforts to bring back the “fairness doctrine” in radio, thus further limiting speech that offends the government. You must know that people our age are having massive amounts of wealth forcibly confiscated for the Social Security Ponzi scheme whose benefits we will never see. One used to be able to decide what businesses to invest in, but you and I are now proud owners of GM, whether we wanted to be or not. You have a professional expertise in banking; it cannot come as a surprise to you that the government forced banks to make loans to unqualified borrowers in order to get a politically correct distribution of loans. Every time you spend $5 on a retail purchase, you have to give 1¢ to help defray the cost of the Denver Broncos’ football stadium, for cryin’ out loud! The whole idea of eminent domain has been usurped to drive out the little guy for private gain, as long as the powerful interest doing the driving promises a sweetheart benefit to the government. What used to be standard Scriptural homiletics is now “hate speech,” lest someone be discomfited. Governor Ritter is now looking at raising even more taxes (soda, candy, online purchases) to feed the leviathan that can never get enough. Finally, just three days ago, you and I were required to participate in an election in which we were required to deliver our ballot to a government worker with our name signed on the envelope that contained it. What ever happened to the idea of a secret ballot? This is the list I was able to come up with in five minutes off the top of my head. Give me an hour, and I could come up with a lot more.
Apropos the topic: “the failure to comply with the individual mandate to buy health insurance contained in the Pelosi health care bill (H.R. 3962, as amended) could land people in jail. The JCT letter makes clear that Americans who do not maintain ‘acceptable health insurance coverage’ and who choose not to pay the bill’s new individual mandate tax (generally 2.5% of income), are subject to numerous civil and criminal penalties, including criminal fines of up to $250,000 and imprisonment of up to five years.” Source: Congressman Dave Camp (R-MI). Maybe that’s the kind of stuff Peggy Noonan was talking about.