• Home
  • Opinion
  • Quizzes
  • Redistricting
  • Sections
  • About Us
  • Voting
  • Independent Voter News
  • Campaign Finance
  • Civic Ed
  • Directory
  • Election Dissection
  • Events
  • Fact Check
  • Glossary
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Subscriptions
  • Log in
Leveraging Our Differences
  • news & opinion
    • Big Picture
      • Civic Ed
      • Ethics
      • Leadership
      • Leveraging big ideas
      • Media
    • Business & Democracy
      • Corporate Responsibility
      • Impact Investment
      • Innovation & Incubation
      • Small Businesses
      • Stakeholder Capitalism
    • Elections
      • Campaign Finance
      • Independent Voter News
      • Redistricting
      • Voting
    • Government
      • Balance of Power
      • Budgeting
      • Congress
      • Judicial
      • Local
      • State
      • White House
    • Justice
      • Accountability
      • Anti-corruption
      • Budget equity
    • Columns
      • Beyond Right and Left
      • Civic Soul
      • Congress at a Crossroads
      • Cross-Partisan Visions
      • Democracy Pie
      • Our Freedom
  • Pop Culture
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
  • events
  • About
      • Mission
      • Advisory Board
      • Staff
      • Contact Us
Sign Up
  1. Home>
  2. Big Picture>
  3. free speech>

Patriotism and freedom: The two most misused terms in U.S. politics

Lawrence Goldstone
August 31, 2021
Woman holidng a sign that says "freedom" during a rally.

Protests participate in an April 2020 "Freedom Rally" in California.

Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images
Goldstone is the author of "On Account of Race: The Supreme Court, White Supremacy and the Ravaging of African American Voting Rights" (Counterpoint Press). This piece was originally published by Independent Voter News.

Two of the most frequently used words in right-wing America, "freedom" and "Constitution," are also among the most misused. Many American conservatives believe the "Constitution" gives them the "freedom" to do just about anything they like. They are free to own guns and carry them openly, free to refuse to be vaccinated, free to refuse to wear masks in public places, free to refuse to accept the results of a free and fair election, and, to some, even free to invade government buildings and threaten those who work there with violence or death. Combining the two, these conservatives are convinced that anyone who asserts such "freedom" in the name of the "Constitution" is a "patriot."

From a moral or philosophical perspective, there are any number of flaws in this argument. The first and most obvious is that absolute freedom for everyone is impossible. Almost by definition, absolute freedom for some means diminished freedom for others. If, for example, potentially Covid-infected people are free to refuse vaccinations or mask mandates and swarm into schools or other public places, those who fear contracting the disease have their freedom of movement limited. And so, the "personal freedom" currently extolled by, among others, Governors Greg Abbott of Texas and Ron DeSantis of Florida, is merely the freedom for their supporters to curtail the freedom of others, although it is never expressed in those terms.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

As the pandemic worsened and the disastrous impact of the "personal freedom" argument became apparent, some conservatives began to chuck in the phrase "personal responsibility," as if merely asking people to behave with consideration toward others would cause them to abandon their ideals and give in to what they see as tyranny. Predictably, the requests rang hollow and it soon became apparent that "personal responsibility" was to be soundly rejected as a restraining factor in these patriots' behavior. Even that paragon of personal freedom (for himself), Donald Trump was booed for urging his erstwhile supporters to be vaccinated.

The question remains, however, whether the Constitution guarantees, or even suggests, the sort of freedom being touted by conservatives — whether "We the People," is actually "We the People ... Not You."

The answer is a resounding no. One need only to read the preamble to recognize that forming "a more perfect Union" and securing "the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity" includes promoting "the general Welfare." The power to determine "general welfare" and enforce provisions in that interest — what is referred to in legal circles as "police power" — is clearly reserved to the government formed from that Constitution. While there are some areas in which police power is delegated to the states, state action cannot be extended to threaten the welfare of the nation as a whole. To buttress that notion, a multitude of Supreme Court decisions interpreting the Constitution make it clear that there can be no freedom without responsibility, and that government is obligated to impose such responsibility when some of "the people" do not meet that standard voluntarily.

For example, freedom of speech, a favorite topic for conservatives these days, has been judged to be in no way absolute. The most famous prohibition forbids yelling fire in a crowded theater, a phrase coined by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes in 1919 in United States v. Schenck. A more telling decision, however, was rendered by a unanimous Court in 1942 in Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, where the justices ruled that "fighting words" which "by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace," were not protected by the First Amendment. Although Chaplinsky still stands, what constitutes "fighting words" has remained a subject for conjecture ever since. Still, the message that free speech must be accompanied by a degree of civic responsibility remains a part of American law.

Another example can be found in Justice Antonin Scalia's controversial decision in District of Columbia v. Heller. Conservatives hailed the decision as establishing their unfettered right to own firearms, which they were convinced was embodied in the Second Amendment. The most important gun rights decision before Heller was United States v. Miller in 1939. There the court ruled unanimously that Jack Miller, a bank robber on the run after squealing on his compatriots, did not have the right to transport a sawed-off shotgun across state lines in violation of the National Firearms Act, because his weapon had no possible military purpose and therefore would not be used in a "well regulated militia." (Miller was not around to lament his loss. He was found murdered before the decision was rendered.)

In Heller, Scalia, speaking for a 5-4 court, cast Miller and the militia requirement aside and struck down a District of Columbia ordinance that required all firearms including rifles and shotguns be kept "unloaded and disassembled or bound by a trigger lock," even in an individual's home. For the first time, the court found that the right to keep and bear arms applied to private individuals. The decision was excoriated by dissenters, who claimed (correctly) that the Second Amendment was intended to address the need for common defense in a nation that could not afford a standing army. Conservatives, of course, hailed the decision as an expression of personal freedom.

But what those freedom-loving conservatives generally fail to mention is the limitations Scalia put on a right they view as unconditional. "Like most rights," Scalia wrote, "the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited. From Blackstone through the 19th-century cases, commentators and courts routinely explained that the right was not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose." As a result, although Congress has lacked the will to do so, any number of laws limiting the sale or use of firearms would not infringe on the Heller decision.

Although there is no absolute yardstick to be sure, to create a free society, individual freedom must always be subject to limitations, one of which is that no person can have the right to put another person in danger. Patriotism then is not the demand for unbridled individual freedom at the expense of others, but the willingness to give up a degree of individual freedom for the good of others.

We would be a much stronger nation if both our leaders and our citizenry grasped that basic truth.

From Your Site Articles
  • Reimagining federalism in the time of Covid - The Fulcrum ›
  • Freedom is part of our civic religion - The Fulcrum ›
  • U.S. rated a 'flawed democracy' for 5th straight year - The Fulcrum ›
  • State bans on mask mandates mirror resistance to integration - The Fulcrum ›
  • Podcast: To understand the right wing - The Fulcrum ›
  • Podcast: Free speech and misinformation - The Fulcrum ›
  • Freedom of speech comes with the responsibility to use it - The Fulcrum ›
Related Articles Around the Web
  • The Idea of 'Freedom' Has Two Different Meanings. Here's Why | Time ›
  • Two concepts of freedom: View as single page ›
  • A Higher Understanding of Freedom ›
free speech

Want to write
for The Fulcrum?

If you have something to say about ways to protect or repair our American democracy, we want to hear from you.

Submit
Get some Leverage Sign up for The Fulcrum Newsletter
Confirm that you are not a bot.
×
Follow

Support Democracy Journalism; Join The Fulcrum

The Fulcrum daily platform is where insiders and outsiders to politics are informed, meet, talk, and act to repair our democracy and make it live and work in our everyday lives. Now more than ever our democracy needs a trustworthy outlet

Contribute
Contributors

Grand Canyon gap in America today

Dave Anderson

Chief Justice John Roberts and Chief Justice Roger Taney are Twins– separated by only 165 years

Stephen E. Herbits

Conservatives attacking Americans’ First Amendment rights

Steve Corbin

To advance racial equity, policy makers must move away from the "Black and Brown" discourse

Julio A. Alicea

Policymakers must address worsening civil unrest post Roe

Sarah K. Burke

Video: How to salvage U.S. democracy from the "tyranny of the minority"

Our Staff
latest News

Could the Constitution itself defeat Trump in 2024?

Rick LaRue
4h

Veterans for Political Innovation: The FAQs of VPI

Reinhold Ernst
4h

Podcast: We contain multitudes

Our Staff
4h

What really are “special interests” in Washington - and how they influence Congress

Bradford Fitch
03 October

The kids are alright: The younger generation’s inspiring legal fight against climate change

David J. Toscano
03 October

Living wisely: Addressing economic faults for a sustainable future

Leland R. Beaumont
03 October
Videos
Video: Expert baffled by Trump contradicting legal team

Video: Expert baffled by Trump contradicting legal team

Our Staff
Video: Do white leaders hinder black aspirations?

Video: Do white leaders hinder black aspirations?

Our Staff
Video: How to prepare for student loan repayments returning

Video: How to prepare for student loan repayments returning

Our Staff
Video: The history of Labor Day

Video: The history of Labor Day

Our Staff
Video: Trump allies begin to flip as prosecutions move forward

Video: Trump allies begin to flip as prosecutions move forward

Our Staff
Video Rewind: Trans-partisan practices and the "superpower of respect"

Video Rewind: Trans-partisan practices and the "superpower of respect"

Our Staff
Podcasts

Podcast: We contain multitudes

Our Staff
4h

Podcast: On democracy and its current torments

Our Staff
02 October

Podcast: Is reunification still possible?

Our Staff
27 September

Podcast: All politics is local

Our Staff
22 September
Recommended
Could the Constitution itself defeat Trump in 2024?

Could the Constitution itself defeat Trump in 2024?

Contributors
Veterans for Political Innovation: The FAQs of VPI

Veterans for Political Innovation: The FAQs of VPI

News
Podcast: We contain multitudes

Podcast: We contain multitudes

Podcasts
What really are “special interests” in Washington - and how they influence Congress

What really are “special interests” in Washington - and how they influence Congress

Contributors
The kids are alright: The younger generation’s inspiring legal fight against climate change

The kids are alright: The younger generation’s inspiring legal fight against climate change

Big Picture
Living wisely: Addressing economic faults for a sustainable future

Living wisely: Addressing economic faults for a sustainable future

Corporate Responsibility