Freedom worth fighting for right here in America
about the dangers. But can we keep for ourselves what we have fought for elsewhere: fair elections, freedom of speech, rule of law and an open political process? We can’t paint a bull’s-eye on our civil rights.
We also have to find ways to partner with the rest of the world. Years ago, Canada’s then-prime minister, Pierre Trudeau, called the United States “the elephant next door.” So, as the world’s elephant, could we learn to move more gracefully? Or use our might for the common good?
I think about how, as a child, I learned about the United States from one of those wall-sized maps common in elementary classrooms, the ones that show each state as a different color. I remember the first time we went on a family vacation to another state and how disappointed I was that all that distinguished the next state was a sign saying, “Welcome to Ohio” but Ohio wasn’t blue as my classroom map had shown it. Now, we are similarly challenged to accept that countries are permeable, and that we have to see the world as a whole.
In 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt described the four freedoms that he wished for our future: Freedom of speech and expression; Freedom for everyone to worship God his own way; Freedom from want; and Freedom from fear.
We’ve seen these freedoms depicted in Norman Rockwell paintings, which might make us think these were only for the American people, but that’s not true. FDR called them a “human birthright,” and the tagline on each painting was: for everyone, everywhere in the world.
That’s the challenge. It’s simple but not easy. But it’s a birthmark worth wearing — and fighting for — abroad and at home.