Principle 1: America Is a Land of FreedomPRINCIPLE 1 AMERICA IS A LAND OF FREEDOM Freedom is the fundamental principle on which America was built. The word freedom polls higher than any other word in this country. It even polls higher than the word America . It doesn''t matter your political persuasion, everything in the United States comes back to the central idea of freedom. Our anthem is about the land of the free. We have Lady Liberty on our shore, the shining beacon of freedom and opportunity. When Americans say "my rights" they mean "my freedom"--what we''re allowed to do, allowed to have, allowed to say. There is a popular meme Europeans like to share to tease Americans that''s just an extreme close-up of a serious-looking bald eagle that reads, "I''m sorry, I can''t hear you over the sound of my freedom.
" This idea of freedom is integral to the American national identity, but I worry many of us have forgotten what it actually means. America is not unique. There are lots of countries in the world with "freedom." In fact on the 2023 Human Freedom Index, America doesn''t even crack the top 10, so we need to ask ourselves, when we say "freedom," what are we actually talking about? What did freedom mean to the Founding Fathers of the Southern colonies? The men who wouldn''t sign the Constitution without the inclusion of chattel slavery. What was freedom to President Andrew Jackson, who ran the brutal Indian Removal Campaign so white settlers could continue their western expansion? What did freedom mean to the men who passed the Fifteenth Amendment after the Civil War, protecting the voting rights of every American citizen "no matter their party, faith, color, or district" but left out gender? Was freedom on the mind of those who opposed Reparations with Black Codes and white violence, or when Jim Crow laws took over the South and segregated everything from bathrooms to schools, adding endless obstacles to make sure the people who were now free to vote couldn''t? America''s history is packed with oppression. Every step forward expanding our freedom has been hard-won, which is why it means so much to us, and why we shouldn''t be cavalier when people try to take it away. Early Americans gambled the future of our nation on the dream of liberty. They risked it all for the chance to make their own rules, establish their own government, and create a nation of the people, by the people, for the people.
The Declaration of Independence, the document we sent to the King of England telling him we no longer wanted to be part of his empire, laid it out, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Or in common speak, we believe this to be true without question, that everyone is created equal. That we are born with certain rights that cannot be taken from us, and among those are our right to life, to freedom, and to the ability to seek that which makes us happy. Now of course, we''d be fools to pretend this idea of liberty was originally offered to everyone. It would be a disservice to the history of our country, and to the memory of the people who fought for the expansion of rights, not to acknowledge that at our inception, liberty and justice were only for some . The only people who could vote in our original elections were white male landowners, over twenty-one, but over the centuries we have expanded the rights and freedoms of the American people with action and deliberation--with blood, sweat, and tears. Very little in this nation''s history was simply given to us. Every step forward has been a fight.
From the day we declared our independence, to the day you are reading this book, we have been a nation of people asking for more. A nation of people looking around and saying, "Nope, we could do better." The Founding Fathers might have been a bunch of white guys who mostly owned slaves and didn''t think much about women, but they were forward thinkers. Enlightened men who knew they were creating the documents of a nation within the confines of their time. The Framers deliberately left things open so they''d be able to evolve. They understood the freedoms originally offered to a small group would eventually, over the course of time, be expanded. Which is why it matters that after two centuries of progress, our freedoms are once again under attack. James Madison, who wrote so much of the Constitution he''s known as the "Father of the Constitution," also wrote nineteen additions that would act as an addendum to the original Constitution and called them "the great rights of mankind.
" Ten of the nineteen would end up being ratified as constitutional amendments and are now collectively known as the Bill of Rights. If the original Constitution is the country''s operating manual, the Bill of Rights, and the amendments that came after, are often what people think of when they talk about American "freedoms." Freedom of speech is in the First Amendment of the Constitution, and is the one Americans often base their national identity on. "I''m an American. I have freedom of speech." The problem is, most people think freedom of speech means you''re allowed to say whatever you want to say, whenever you want to say it, and no one can do anything about it. What people forget is that the Constitution was written to shape the power of the government, not necessarily the behavior of the citizens. We built this country on the idea of independence--that we are our own nation, our own people--but we transposed that national identity onto the individual.
The idea of freedom of speech is so integral to the American sense of self, but we''re often a little fuzzy on the details of the actual amendment. In its entirety, the First Amendment says: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free speech thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." So, let''s break down what that means. Under the First Amendment, the government can''t tell you what to say. It can''t stop you from criticizing it. No one can lock you up for your political beliefs, your political speech, or your peaceful political actions. No one can drag you away, throw you in jail, or execute you for treason for criticizing the government like they do in other countries. You can even make a list of things you believe are wrong and publish them.
This freedom to openly express your anger and disappointment with the very seat of power is a wonderful addition to the Constitution. The point of the amendment is that the weight of the federal government cannot, and will not, be used against its people for the things they say. Americans take for granted how this isn''t the case everywhere else. We talk endlessly about the importance of freedom of speech, but I''m not sure we truly realize what an important freedom it is, because it''s how we make change . It''s how we''re able to stand up and say, "This isn''t right." How we can get elected on our ideas. How we can speak our truth in government about government. Freedom of speech is essential to everything we hold dear, but many have reduced it to the ability to act like a jerk without liability.
Which is why when neo-Nazis were being de-platformed on the original Twitter people got upset. They argued that removing them was against freedom of speech. Except an agreement between a private company and its users has nothing to do with the government. The government gives you the constitutional right to say whatever hateful garbage you want--that''s why we have neo-Nazis marching in American cities without federal officers stepping in--freedom of speech protects you from the government , not the repercussions of your speech from private companies or public groups. You can''t just scream at a comedian in a comedy club or yell your opinions in a crowded lecture hall without being removed. Americans are offered freedom from tyranny , not freedom from accountability . You can''t threaten to murder someone or deliberately incite a riot and call it free speech. To be clear, those are actually considered "true threats," and the Supreme Court has ruled the government is allowed to prosecute someone who intentionally threatens another person with death or bodily harm.
The Supreme Court has also ruled that the First Amendment doesn''t protect you from inciting violence or causing a harmful situation, like yelling "Fire!" in a crowded theater. Freedom of speech means the government can''t come after you for the things you say. It doesn''t shield you from slander, libel, false or misleading speech, or intellectual property violations, and it doesn''t mean you can''t be fired for using the N-word at work. The First Amendment is such an essential addition to the Constitution that we should give props to those holdout delegates who refused to sign the document until a bill of rights was included. Just as we should feel concerned that current state leaders are now writing laws to roll those essential rights back--like making protesting illegal, allowing people to hit protestors with their car, or banning journalists they don''t like from press conferences. Many of us were concerned when President Donald Trump started talking about jailing his political opponents ("Lock her up!"), or when he asked General Mark Milley if they could "just shoot [the protesters]" in the summer of 2020. General Milley had to remind the president that the people had a constitutional right to peacefully gather and protest. It doesn''t matter ho.