Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education. –Franklin D. Roosevelt
As I bring my brief exploration of ‘Whose Freedom’ to a close I extend to you, Gentle Reader, an invitation. My invitation is for ‘We the People’ to engage in a series of searching conversations exploring broadly and deeply the concepts of freedom that I have been writing about.
This is not simply a conversation about semantics. We are involved in a ‘Culture Conflict’ focusing on an idea. If our traditional idea of freedom changes radically, then freedom as we have known it will become transformed [again, Gentle Reader, I am speaking of the traditional freedom of Washington, Lincoln and FDR].
We must believe that we humans act on our ideas. Ideas are not simply abstract things. Ideas are the tap roots that feed, nurture and sustain actions. Ideas define Ideals. Ideas frame and form our behavioral norms, our Cultural Norms. Ideas help us define and distinguish between ‘right’ and ‘wrong.’ Ideas support or change our understanding of our Cultural and National History. Ideas help us emerge a vision of the future. Ideas powerfully impact the laws we create.
Ownership of the ‘word’ and of the ‘idea’ determine all of the above – and more. For example, the United States has, for many decades, been the beacon of democracy and freedom. The question we must hold and engage: Whose Freedom and Whose Democracy?
Our Culture Conflict is real. Democracy is rooted in compromise – in emerging a ‘third way.’ The ‘third way’ will dissolve the conflict. Today, more than ever before in our history, we must discern, emerge, name and live into this ‘third way.’ The Radical Right and the Radical Left must be tempered by the rest of us – the majority of us, by the by.
Perhaps if we return to FDR’s ‘Four Freedoms’ then we might be able to use them to help us engage in a series of searching conversations. Do you, Gentle Reader, remember or even know FDR’s ‘Four Freedoms’? I invite you to look them up, write them down, and reflect upon them – perhaps even to write about them and perhaps even invite two or three other folks to join you in a searching conversation or two.
Let us never forget that government is ourselves. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President, and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the people of this country. –Franklin D. Roosevelt
Searcher-Seeker 