CHAPTER ONE

Principles

Public celebrations of freedom used to be at the heart of America's pride in itself. When we bragged about being American (and how we used to brag), it was freedom we talked about, endlessly. We loved our liberty--the God-given, inalienable, constitutionally guaranteed right of every American to live his life as he saw fit, beholden to no one, taking his own chances, pursuing happiness in his own way, doing as he damn well pleased. We celebrated that individualistic, unfettered American in our politics, literature, songs, drama, and, later, in films.

As socialism gained influence in the twentieth century, it became intellectually fashionable to mock freedom, first in Europe and eventually in the United States. What does freedom really amount to, the left asked, in a world of poverty? The equal freedom of rich and poor to sleep under bridges? As the century progressed, the same dismissiveness toward freedom, especially economic freedom, spread from intellectuals into mainstream politics. This thing called freedom, we were told, is what the rich talk about when they don't want to face their responsibilities to the poor.

In the face of such taunts American celebrations of freedom faded. We even stopped talking much about freedom. Listen carefully to today's politicians. You will hear the Democrats talk about "social justice" and "fairness." You will hear the Republicans talk about lower taxes and "getting government off our backs" in minor ways, while leaving it untouched everywhere else. But freedom? When did you last hear a leading Republican or Democratic politician argue that prese