Freedom to Thrive
Democrats can own the freedom narrative with a subtle yet important reframing.
In the spirit of Memorial Day Weekend, let’s dive into freedom. And please share it if you like it!
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I have noticed Democrats have been talking about freedom a lot lately. This is good! But it also comes with potential peril when the phrase is most associated with Republicans. To “own freedom” we are going to have to fight to re-broaden the concept, which has become too narrow. And we must do so in a way that feels authentic with voters.
Free“dems”
President Joe Biden’s campaign announcement video went all-in on freedom. He begins by staring straight into the camera, simply says, “Freedom,” then uses the framework of freedom to guide the rest of the video.
Joe Biden is not alone in this. Two great center left organizations, the New Democrat Coalition in Congress and NewDEAL, a national network of state and local elected officials, released a strong “freedom agenda” at the end of last year.
Freedom is having a moment on the center-left these days.
Potential Pitfalls
The values and principles that Joe Biden and these organizations espouse are spot on, but couching it under “freedom” is not quite right. Simply using the label “freedom” risks sounding inauthentic considering how Democrats have traditionally emphasized fairness and equality more than freedom. Most common examples of freedom - gun rights, freedom of speech, and freedom from government overreach - are not exactly core Democratic talking points. In contrast, Republicans have leaned hard into a “don’t tread on me” form of freedom messaging.
“Don’t tread on me” simply is not the core brand of the Democratic party, nor should it be. And since brands take a long time to build and are hard to change quickly, trying to fully co-opt the Republican messaging around freedom is unwise.
The other potential pitfall with “freedom” is that it is not the right foundational value system - as currently phrased - to undergird the Democratic policy agenda. Ideally, all center-left policies would flow clearly and naturally from our overarching strategic narrative. The basic version of freedom makes that tougher. For example, on the topic of guns, it becomes hard to fit background checks or other sensible limitations under the umbrella of “freedom.”
A More Complete Form of Freedom
Despite these real challenges, freedom - with a slight rephrasing - is still an excellent core value around which Democrats can build their strategic narrative.
Freedom means different things to different people, but most everyone will likely agree it entails being unencumbered to live your best life. Republicans interpret this to be freedom from restrictions or interference. This kind of freedom is not bad! It is the value system that justified major gains for women, black Americans, and LGBT folks. It also protects dissent and keeps religion out of government. It supports a dynamic market economy and ensures all Americans can speak their mind without fear of reprisal. Americans cherish this type of freedom and for good reason. But it is incomplete.
Freedom is not simply an absence of interference or persecution from the government. A hands-off government can also undermine freedom. Political philosopher Isaiah Berlin said, “Freedom for the wolves tends to mean death for the sheep.” Removing all restraints will lead to a chaotic society that most often benefits the powerful.
If left unrestrained, corporations will pursue monopoly power, so they can increase prices and suppress wages (“Competition is for Losers”). When they do so, their customers and employees become less free. If a young mother cannot get health insurance because of a pre-existing cancer diagnosis, she is not free. And if a child’s future is determined - not by the strength of his talents - but by the zipcode into which he was born, that child is not free.
A more complete form of freedom is the “freedom to thrive.” It broadens the notion of freedom from an absence of interference to a proactive expansion of opportunity and, in doing so, makes freedom more relatable and holistic. When implemented successfully, Americans not only have freedom from interference, they also have access to the functioning systems of society (e.g., economy, education, healthcare, safety) that provide them the foundation on which they can build meaningful lives.
For those that say that this is just a contrived definitional expansion to satisfy modern Democratic policy aims, not true! There is a long history of this broader framing of freedom.
Alexander Hamilton was deeply concerned about mob rule, factional rule, and the dire consequences of an enfeebled government. In the final Federalist Paper he concludes that securing liberty requires putting restraints on the “local factions and insurrections, and on the ambition of powerful individuals in single States, who may acquire credit and influence enough, from leaders and favorites, to become the despots of the people.” He saw that the government had a role to play in protecting everyone’s freedom to thrive.
Presidents FDR also emphasized this broader concept in his 1941 State of the Union. He famously established four freedoms: the freedom of speech, the freedom of worship, the freedom from want, and the freedom from fear. The first two represent the narrower definition, but the second two expand it.
He gave this speech to an isolationist America 11 months before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. When America did go to war, these four freedoms became the moral framework of what America was fighting for and how the post-war era should be structured.
Democrats can rest assured that “Freedom to Thrive” is not a passing fad, but a core American value.
If you want to learn more about the different concepts of freedom, check out Isaiah Berlin’s Two Concepts of Liberty, Joseph Stiglitz’s The Road to Freedom, and Lea Ypi’s Free.
The Case for the Center-Left to Own “Freedom to Thrive” Messaging
Freedom to Thrive is not just a strong concept, it is a particularly good messaging framework for the center-left.
Powerful: Freedom, in general, is a powerful value. It invokes a strong emotional response and is deeply tied to American culture. That is very advantageous when crafting strategic narratives. “Freedom to Thrive” benefits from this
Differentiated: “Freedom to Thrive” is differentiated from both the far left and the MAGA right. If we are going to build a powerful common sense movement on the center-left, we need values and themes that are uniquely our own. MAGA has chosen a short-sighted form of freedom, which makes them unlikely to use the more holistic “freedom to thrive” messaging. Meanwhile the far left is not a huge fan of freedom messaging, in general, as it is often invoked to push back on some of their most expansive agendas. They have gone the “justice” direction instead (e.g., Justice "Democrats). “Freedom to Thrive” also implies equality of opportunity rather than equality of outcomes, which is a core ideological difference between the center left and the far left.
Frames policy well: Perhaps the best aspect of “freedom to thrive” messaging is that it neatly frames the center-left’s policy approach. The phrase respects personal freedom and market-based solutions, but demands a more proactive governmental approach to building a free and fair society. That unique balance is a core part of center-left political ideology. More on the policy aspects in a future newsletter.
Easy to understand: Lastly, “freedom to thrive” is not wonky (unlike this post). It instantly makes sense. The phrase deserves much more testing, but we recently commissioned a focus group that addressed this topic and got a powerful response. Participants were uncomfortable with “freedom’ as being too right-coded, but, unprompted, users began sharing personal examples of what “freedom to thrive” means to them: freedom from being trapped in student loan and medical debt, being able to afford rent, escaping inflation, more financial security, and having a little more peace in the world.
I’ll leave you with a full quote from one participant, Rebekeh:
I think in order to have the kind of freedom that feels good we need structure. You have to have structures in place and systems in place that allow people to capitalize on their freedom and actually do something with it. Like, if you don’t have a job and you don’t really have housing and whatever and you can just wander around, yeah you are “free”; you can go around and do whatever you want, but I think most people would agree that’s not the vision.
It’s kind of like a plant. Like if you have a really big plant and it keeps growing and it just kind of flops everywhere, but if you give it a stick or something to climb up, that actually ends up being better. It can get somewhere because you have given it something to do with the growth that it is experiencing.
Have a great Memorial Day Weekend. -Ed