Let’s talk about freedom again
Why the liberal left makes a mistake if it leaves freedom issues to right-wing libertarians
Today most liberals talk about injustice and inequality and many are preoccupied with identity politics, calling out against discrimination and oppression of specific groups. Now justice and equality should be core concerns of anyone who calls themselves left or liberal. But so should freedom.
Leaving the defense of freedom in the hands of irrational antivaxxers and gun-bearing libertarians is a bad idea because of a number of reasons:
Caring about freedom is progressive
Firstly, since the French Revolution freedom is an important progressive political principle, and it is currently under threat. Authoritarian tendencies of right-wing populism in many countries, human rights violations all over the world, new walls and closed borders, the measures that are taken to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, the problems with governing digital technologies and restrictions to free speech, the challenge to deal with climate change: they all require debates about freedom and how to balance freedom with other values and principles such as cooperation, security, health, and environment.
If liberals are condescending toward people who care about freedom and fail to take seriously their concerns, they not only further erode their traditional political support base, part of which has already found its way to the populist right (Trump supporters, Brexiteers), but also miss an opportunity to develop and offer their own vision of freedom, as opposed to merely complaining about that of their opponents.
Liberals (…) miss an opportunity to develop and offer their own vision of freedom
Freedom is not just about doing what you want
Secondly, in order to develop such a vision, it is a big mistake to limit the meaning of freedom to a particular version of it: libertarian freedom, or the freedom to do what you want. Sometimes defending freedom from interference by the state is necessary; it is not for nothing one of the cornerstones of liberal democratic constitutions. And liberals should side with others to defend it or at least discuss it, instead of undermining it by mindlessly supporting censorship, closed borders, and curfews.
But there are also other notions of freedom, such as freedom as capability, defended by Sen and Nussbaum in the 1990s and still relevant: how can we increase the capabilities of people, how can we empower them? Such notions deserve their place in a liberal project. In my forthcoming book I argue that we badly need such richer notions of freedom in the face of climate change, new technologies, and (other) global crises such as the current pandemic.
Paradoxically, by failing to develop and defend their own vision of freedom, the liberal left has unwillingly given credit to the notion of freedom defended by their libertarian opponents. More: it has shared the false dichotomy presented by their opponents: either you’re for justice, or you’re for freedom, and both are incompatible. But the only future of progressive politics worth wanting is one in which these values are seen as compatible.
Paradoxically, by failing to develop and defend their own vision of freedom, the liberal left has unwillingly given credit to the notion of freedom defended by their libertarian opponents.
While freedom remains a taboo for liberals, their political opponents (ab)use it to destroy liberal democracy
Thirdly, if liberals continue to ignore or even oppose talking about freedom, their political opponents will raise the issue from their perspective to gain political support, and then in the form of populist and extreme right movements use it to ultimate undermine the freedom and the liberal democracy we take too much take for granted. If not 20th century political history (ask people who lived under totalitarian regimes why freedom is important), then at least what happened in the US Capitol building should remind us of this danger.
Liberals must keep supporting justice and equality, by all means. But if they continue to taboo freedom, there will in the end be no one left to defend it. And that would be not only a shame and a missed opportunity; it would also be a human disaster.
So let’s talk about freedom again.
