America needs a “Four Freedoms” Compromise
In a Wall Street Journal article dated February 4, 2021 National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan is quoted as saying “the most profound pressing national security challenge for the United States is getting our own house in order”. After the turmoil of the final months of President Trump, Sullivan hits the nail on the head. The extremists on the political right and left in this country need a wake-up call reminder about our values, and the nation as a whole needs a “Four Freedoms” compromise.
The “Four Freedoms” speech of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941 spelled out America’s commitment to help the nations fighting Nazi Germany in World War II. The first two freedoms are obvious: freedom of speech/expression and freedom of worship or non-worship in one’s own way. Freedom of speech and expression must be upheld for those on the left and right who wish to protest peacefully, and for those who wish to express themselves in the LGBTQ community. For too long the culture wars have divided Americans and when extremists sow division we forget our values of peaceful tolerance and acceptance of dissent.
This brings us to the second half of Roosevelt’s four freedoms. Freedom from want has a particular urgency right now with the pandemic and the economic crisis that lockdowns and unemployment has caused. We cannot allow people who’ve lost their jobs due to the health crisis wallow in poverty and despair. Going forward, we must initiate progressive hiring practices and implement pay increases to insure historically disadvantaged Americans like blacks and Native peoples are able to feed their families and enjoy economic security.
The next freedom is freedom from fear. As last summer’s protests over police violence shows, too many black communities suffer fear of law enforcement. Police often demand respect and can be very confrontational right at the beginning of an encounter. Looking at an officer these days one is also struck by the amount of military-grade equipment they carry. That is why a freedom from fear initiative should be undertaken to reform, not DEFUND, the police in America. Local, state and federal government should cut back on the military gear police departments acquire, and there must be an increase in required trainings for cops in peaceful conflict resolution, mental health disorders, and historical oppression like segregation. Our cops have immense power; they should be required through training to use that power humanely and wisely. They must not be allowed to shoot first and ask questions later.
In exchange for economic aid and police reform to help communities of color, the extreme Left must stop the attempt to destroy our political culture. Confederate monuments are fine targets, but the line stops at the monuments to the memory of our founders like Washington and Jefferson. Washington gave us the precedent of a powerful man relinquishing the power of the Presidency and returning to the duties of a private citizen. We have all benefitted from that symbolic move in that we don’t have dynasties where one family dominates our political landscape. Jefferson had slaves, but he also gave us the freedom of worship that Roosevelt called essential. Jefferson’s Statute of Religious Freedom made sure Americans couldn’t be persecuted for their religious beliefs or lack of such beliefs. That benefits all of us, black and white, regardless of Jefferson’s owning of slaves. Jefferson and Washington were flawed men of course, but so are we all. They made vital contributions when this country was in its infancy, and they deserve their monuments.
The extreme Right must allow gay marriage and abortion. The freedom of worship is not a freedom to impose one’s own religious viewpoints on others. These compromises will be hard, but these four freedoms are worth the effort. As national security adviser Sullivan put it, we must get our own house in order.