By George Wilson | George Lakoff is distinguished professor of Cognitive Science and Linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley. His latest book is the ALL NEW Don’t Think of an Elephant. In it he makes the following observations.
- Voting: Without the right to vote in free elections without hindrance, you are not free.
- Health: If you get cancer or even break a leg and don’t have health care, you are not free.
- Education: Without education, you lack the knowledge and skills not just to earn a decent living, but also to even be aware of the possibilities of life. Without education, you are therefore not free.
- Women: If you are denied control over your body, you are not free.
- Marriage: If you are in love and are denied the right to marry with a publicly declared lifetime commitment, you are not free.
- Vast income inequality: When the economic gains that most people have worked go not to those who worked for them, but go only to the wealthiest of the wealthy, those who did the work — most people — are not free.
- Race: When you are treated with suspicion and disdain, you are not free.
- Corporate Control: When corporations control your life for their benefit and not yours, you are not free.
- Privatization: When significant public resources become owned or controlled by private corporations, the public has lost an essential element of freedom.
- Fear: When you are emotionally gripped by fear, you are not free.
As FDR pointed out, Freedom from Fear is a vital freedom. In the 2014 election, conservatives played on fear — of Isis and Ebola.
Every progressive instinctively knows all this, but very few say it. Instead, progressives tend to not talk about such values, but instead about facts, policies, and programs. This should and will change.
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