Recapturing the Single Most Important Value in American Life
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Freedom is the single most powerful value in American life. And it’s hard for any movement or party to succeed without owning this idea — and shaping a narrative around it.
The left owned the idea of freedom starting with the trust-busting and labor organizing of the progressive era and largely sustained this monopoly through the civil rights era of the 1960s.
But conservatives co-opted freedom starting in the 1970s by fighting liberal judges, social engineering, and big government. The right has largely owned this linchpin idea ever since. Most recently, Trump and MAGA have articulated a holistic worldview in which woke elites — in firm command of the media, academia, corporations, and the “deep state” — dominate and disrespect ordinary “real” Americans.
Consider that Moms for Liberty, founded less than three years ago, now claims to have 115,000 members spread across 275 local chapters. Its recent convention drew five presidential candidates.
Still, though, freedom is increasingly in play.
Many Democrats and progressives are embracing a new narrative that centers a trifecta of anti-freedom villains: MAGA authoritarians, unaccountable conservative judges, and corporate monopolies. A strong message defending key rights and freedoms — not to mention the electoral system itself — was a key driver of Democratic success in the 2022 elections.
If we play our cards right, the left could again get the upper hand in the battle to own freedom.
But it won’t be easy. For one thing, centering freedom in our political narrative remains a surprisingly hard sell to a lot of progressives. I speak from experience, as someone who’s been banging the drum on this score since the early 2000s — often meeting indifference or pushback. “That's the right’s idea,” a think tank colleague of mine once said. The left, he continued, should stay focused on promoting equity.
This mindset remains common. Take a spin around the websites of top progressive groups and you won’t see much mention of freedom.
The other problem, of course, is that the left now includes some vocal illiberal elements and there are reasons that, as one commentator observed, progressives are seen as “the new schoolmarms of America.”
Still, I’ve heard more talk on the left about freedom in the past year or two than at any time in my life. Anat Shenker-Osorio, an influential progressive communications consultant, has made freedom a central theme of her messaging guidance to electoral groups and candidates. The White House has been largely on board, with Biden advancing a narrative around freedom, democracy, and rights in the run-up to the 2022 election and in his recent reelection kickoff speech.
Meanwhile, thinkers like Michael Tomasky and groups like American Economic Liberties Project are working to revive an early 20th-century liberal narrative that argues that a just economy is an essential foundation for freedom. This work echoes ideas advanced by John Schwarz’s essential 2007 book, “Freedom Reclaimed.”
What can we do, particularly as donors, to encourage this positive movement? Here are a few thoughts.
We need to keep scaling up new work that challenges corporate power and more explicitly ground this challenge in the value of freedom. Groups in this space worth supporting include not only the American Economic Liberties Project, but Open Markets Institute, the Economic Security Project, and the Roosevelt Institute.
Progressives need to rethink our faith that delivering more government benefits will win over voters. In fact, narratives that center values and identity often have more traction — and freedom, I’d argue, is the most powerful value of all. For more on this topic, check out a great recent article in Democracy Journal, “The Death of 'Deliverism.'”
If you’re involved with a progressive organization, either on staff or as a board member or donor, see if you can catalyze discussion about freedom and maybe integrate this idea into the group’s mission and message. The idea of freedom connects to a wide range of issues once you start thinking about it — and understanding the benefits of grounding your work in this penultimate American value.
Attacking the overreach of conservative courts on abortion and other issues is a powerful freedom narrative for the left. It's worth recalling that a backlash to liberal courts in the 197os was a central driver of what was then called the "New Right." Progressives can now work this same angle. And, related, we can keep sounding the alarm about attacks on the electoral system, which is closely linked in people's minds to the idea of freedom.
We need to push back against the left’s illiberal elements. Many of these voices exist outside the world of professional progressive organizations, but not entirely. More on this thorny topic another time.
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