![]() ![]() So, his list of freedoms was something quite different from liberty for all. Since FDR’s third freedom requires domestic government aggression to get the required resources for its “benevolence,” his “freedom from fear” omits the most significant agency most people must fear when it comes to their liberty. But it says nothing about constraining a nation’s freedom to aggress against its own citizens, which history has shown is a widespread threat to liberty. It proposed guaranteeing that “no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor.” Such protection against other governments’ depredations is certainly a valuable defense of liberty in the world. Such freedom must violate liberty.įDR’s fourth freedom-freedom from fear-was also insufficiently generalized. But expanding recipients’ freedom in that sense necessarily constricts others’ equal freedom to attain their desired goods and services with their resources. It commits government to provide some individuals more goods and services than they would have gotten through voluntary interactions (including voluntary charity) with others. ![]() However, FDR’s third freedom-freedom from want-cannot be similarly universal. They are aspects of liberty for all, defending citizens’ rights against man-imposed coercion, including that exercised by the agency with the greatest coercive power-government. The only government role created is preventing others’ intrusions on those rights. The freedom of one individual to speak or worship does not detract from the same freedom for others. It mixed freedoms that were consistent with liberty with freedoms that were not, demonstrating how demagogues have been able to more successfully misrepresent or twist freedom than liberty.įDR’s first two “essential human freedoms”-freedom of speech and expression, and freedom of every person to worship God in his own way-were not problematic because both can be enjoyed universally. Roosevelt’s famous “ Four Freedoms” speech. But what I most remember as my biggest trigger was Franklin D. In a more analytical sense, it could come from John Stuart Mill’s essay “ On Liberty” and its contrast between freedom to act and the absence of coercion, or Isaiah Berlin’s distinction between positive liberty (often the meaning when people talk of freedom) and negative liberty (protecting individuals from the tyranny of others) in his essay “ Two Concepts of Liberty.”Īll of those have no doubt influenced my views on freedom versus liberty. Perhaps it traces to Patrick Henry’s “Give me liberty or give me death.” Perhaps it is because “with liberty and justice for all” is “the most important phrase in the Pledge of Allegiance,” according to Harvard political theorist Danielle Allen. Perhaps my preference goes back to Thomas Jefferson’s reference to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” in the Declaration of Independence. ![]() Have you ever thought about the relationship between the words liberty and freedom? Frequently, the words are used interchangeably, but I have always preferred liberty. ![]()
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