Now, during the Republican presidential primaries, we hear a lot about liberty. It is a leave-me-alone type of liberty, suggesting the license to do what one may choose in the sacred call of business activity. Much is sought in the name of freedom.
We call this the land of liberty. In the name of business freedom, regulations affecting business practices are staunchly opposed by Republicans. Gov. Mitch Daniels accuses President Barack Obama of a "mindless piling on of expensive new regulations."
In his Republican rebuttal of the president's State of the Union, Daniels' accuses him of "extremism" and a "pro-poverty policy."
Daniels claimed that only Republicans can bring America together with privatized, pro-growth approaches. He dismisses Obama's concerns about the unhealthy schism between the haves and have-nots as a never-happen-here matter. He said Obama has driven us into a "dead end of debt," which was "already unaffordable."
The "already-unaffordable" part was what Obama inherited from Bush. In fact, Daniels was Bush's director of the Office of Management and Budget (from 2001-03). His tenure saw the government devour Clinton's $236 billion surplus, and accumulate another $400 billion of debt. That is freedom from responsibility and taking liberties with the truth.
His claiming and blaming address concludes that "a private economy" is the only solution. "Republicans will speak for those who believe in the dignity and capacity of the individual citizen; we believe that government is meant to serve the people rather than supervise them."
We cannot just ignore that the country has suffered a lot from the shenanigans of unsupervised banks and their financial manipulations, the job-exporting profiteering of corporations, budget reductions for schools, usurious interest rates for student loans, and worse for payday loans, the unchecked power of private health insurance to avoid claims, problems with toxic dumping, pollution and faulty products.
In fact, government power is the only force in the country capable of addressing corporate and wealthy interests in protection of consumers. No wonder that those special interests want government out of their hair, and they try hard to corrupt or discredit the process, in the name of freedom.
What does freedom mean, really? Basically it means the ability to make our own decisions. Such liberty carries the obligation of mutual respect and fairness with others, and is normally imbedded in the terms of community membership.
We are deeply social by nature, with a highly developed capacity for empathy. We very much need to be connected, and thus, we are nearly always dependent in various ways, upon the cohesion within our group, its cooperation and teamwork, and the exigencies of its circumstances and economic environment. This is the alphabet level of the human story.
Total dependence at birth grows into interdependence within community. Individuality is enhanced by mutual dependence and specialization in adult roles.
This leads to differentiation into membership positions of service, influence, contribution, ideally held together in cooperation, negotiation and town-hall process.
Now, our urbanized, technically complicated, highly specialized and international economy puts many, many people into circumstances beyond any individual control. The self-sustaining freestanding individual is largely a myth.
Kings and tyrants arose, and the notion of liberty went revolutionary. But we are losing that freedom. Because while we worked hard to tame and harness government, there have arisen international corporate conglomerates with more power than most governments to control and shape our lives and possibilities.
The insecurity the unemployed feel is flavored with the anger of betrayal, and we hear about the 1 percent and the 99 percent.
The party of the special interests is now the Republican Party, though the corruption of the electoral system has had a mighty impact on both parties. Nonetheless, the president has called strongly for active governmental programs to restore a sense of fairness and opportunity to all citizens.
Paying more for social justice is not going to steal Bill O'Reilly's freedom, as he fears (The Daily Star, Jan 23). It will grow a healthier community with a fair spectrum of well-being, and reduce the exaggerated polarization that mortgages our liberty to the hoarders of wealth.
We need a society and an economy where it is comfortable to socialize with each other, without this being labeled socialism in the economic system. Being dominated by economic power is no less a loss of freedom than control by a king.
Republican defenders of the new economic tyranny are cloaking themselves in the political arguments of 1776. The real freedom fighters today are 99 percent Occupiers. Let Freedom Ring!
William Masters can be reached at wmasters@thedailystar.com. The views expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect those of The Daily Star and its editorial board.
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February 7, 2012
Playing Left Field: Meaning of 'liberty' lost in GOP's translation
- Big Chuck D'Imperio
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Safety Patrol D.C. visits never get old
I asked Cam Morris, head of Eastern Travel/Oneonta Bus Lines, how many years her company has been handling the Safety Patrol trip to Washington, D.C.
Continued ... - My pal Brucie, savior of Sidney's hospital
- Catching a whiff of 'Vermont Vapor'
- Selections from the virtual mailbag
- Recalling days of 'Doughnut King'
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Safety Patrol D.C. visits never get old
- Cary Brunswick
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We've become our own worst enemies
The past month has been marked by a seeming unprecedented number of man-made tragedies, as distinct from those caused by violent outbursts of the natural world, such as earthquakes, hurricanes and tsunamis.
Continued ... - Plenty of blame to go around for Bangladesh horror
- Obama is going against his word on Social Security
- Reflecting on a Florida trip
- Those magnificent spies in their flying machines
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We've become our own worst enemies
- Chuck Pinkey
- Guest Column
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Records seizure is an insult to free press
Distrust of government secrecy has been elevated to an exceptional level with the disclosure the Justice Department covertly examined two months of Associated Press phone records to determine who leaked details to the AP about a foiled terrorist plot.
Continued ... - The evangelical view of same-sex marriage
- Manor's fate will be Otsego board's legacy
- A closer look at our economy - Part II
- Use fracking to fill budget gaps
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Records seizure is an insult to free press
- Lisa Miller
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A view from above
Fire towers in the Catskill Mountains have always been destination points, built to capture some of the region’s best views. These sentinel stations served an important role for the earliest possible sightings of forest fires in the remote mountain ranges. But the fire towers and those who manned them fulfilled a multitude of other roles as well.
Continued ... - Being a parent is a constant learning process
- Healthy doesn't have to mean expensive
- A family era ends with close of Potter series
- Independent stores make up for loss of Borders
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- Mark Simonson
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General Clinton Canoe Regatta got a new home in 1972
Ever since 1963, when Charles Hinkley and a group of Tri-Town businessmen came up with the idea for what we know today as the General Clinton Canoe Regatta, people lined the shores of the Susquehanna to watch the canoeists as they made their 70-mile trek from Cooperstown to Bainbridge.
Continued ... - Sunday movies in Oneonta finally shown in 1934
- Politics, fitness and landmarks dominated local news in May 1968
- Local people sought income in many ways in 1933
- Local windstorm in 1983 caused tense moments
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- Rick Brockway
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Kids have sparkle in their eyes
When I was in my teens, old Bill Naatz told me about a stream north of Lake George where a man had panned out enough gold to make his wife a wedding band. It was all rumors, but to his grandson and myself, it sounded like the makings of a great adventure.
- People make the outdoors even better
- Turkey season has ups and downs
- Spring air isn't always the freshest
- Adriondacks keep growing and growing
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Kids have sparkle in their eyes
- Sam Pollak
- William Masters
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Schreibman tops Chris Gibson on women's issues
As the time to vote draws near, we need to remember how money can run politics more than we can. Raising funds is a prominent (if not the dominant) task of getting elected. Raising issues is also crucial, but those efforts are subject to distortion and fear-mongering.
- Republicans feelentitled to allthey can garner An entitlement is a legal benefit available from the government to individuals who are within a defined category of recipients, such as needing insurance for unemployment or health services.
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Romney focuses on self; Obama emphasizes unity
Mitt Romney criticizes President Obama for saying a person's success is rooted in his community, and is not all his alone. Romney belittles this with his belief in individual initiative. He is better at the put-down than the push-up.
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Romney shows little regard for common man
The Republicans in Congress have voted over and over, 33 times, redundantly and uselessly, to rescind what they call Obamacare.
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Scouts' gay ban creates problem where none exists
The Boy Scouts of America's "emphatic reaffirmation" of its vow to exclude any and all homosexuals from its hallowed ranks is ill-considered and pathetic, especially in view of its having reviewed the matter for two years.
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Schreibman tops Chris Gibson on women's issues
