“We have to go gutteral” on freedom
Democrats made a “catastrophic mistake” by ceding freedom as an issue to Republicans, Anand Giridharadas told MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell Tuesday night. From Ronald Reagan on they added “freedom” like sugary sprinkles to everything from busting unions to French fries.
Republicans came to “own” freedom through relentless branding, Giridharadas said, until Donald Trump came along with “American carnage.” In his wake, Republicans have abandoned freedom for control.
Control of womens’ bodies.
Control of what we can read.
Control of what we can learn.
Control of whom we can marry.
Control of our health care.
Control of the country itself. Especially that.
Republicans have abandoned freedom for control, for authoritarians like Trump, Putin, Orbán, DeSantis, and (OMFG) Tommy Tuberville. (“He should just move to Russia. Suits him better,” tweeted Paul Rosenberg.)
“All of these fights are fights for freedom,” Giridharadas adds. “And often, they are reframed in these wonky policy terms by folks on the left. And we have to go guttural, and we have to remember people don’t understand what Medicare for All means except people who really focus on this issue. But they know what it means to be free.”
Freedom is something people can feel.
Republican abandonment of freedom gives Democrats a golden opportunity to reclaim it, as Giridharadas sees it. Joe Biden is trying, pushing against the tide of policy wonks.
Let’s review:
“Freedom has always been a contested value,” says Anat Shenker-Osorio. Freedom is a winner with Americans across the political spectrum, Shenker-Osorio says of her messaging research. “It is not coincidental that freedom to vote is the name of the newer form of what was the For the People Act. That name was very deliberately chosen.”
Say it like you mean it, like your freedom is at stake. Because it is.