Freedom Isn't Free

Since the events of September 11, 2001, the phrase "Freedom Isn't Free" has served as a mantra of the American Nationalist movement. The dismissive and alliterative catch-phrase has served to justify the blood and treasure expended in Iraq, the expansion of federal surveillance powers under the PATRIOT act, and the politically repressive policies of the growing American security state. The National Guard urges potential recruits to "Defend Freedom" by joining its ranks while talking heads from President Bush to Bill O'Reilly champion the American cause of "freedom and democracy" in the face of "Islamo-fascism."

All of which is more than a bit concerning, given that none of it has anything to do with "freedom" at all. Freedom is not security.

Indeed, Toby Keith may have inadvertently gotten the crux of the issue right in American Solider. Though Keith sings of the sacrifice of US troops, his verse also describes what it truly is to be an American. I don't want to die for you, but if dyin's asked of me I'll bear that cross with honor, cause freedom don't come free, applies to every American, not just the military. As Ben Franklin famously said, Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. Though Franklin condemns it as immoral (and perhaps unAmerican ) the exchange of Liberty for Security may be reversed, and in this direction, constitutes the very core of the American value system.

The price of Freedom is Security.

Every American, not just the men and women of the armed forces, must be willing to risk security and safety in the preservation of freedom. If anything is quintessentially American it is this one thing - the preservation of liberty in the face of personal danger. Americans must be willing to endure the risk of attack, even death itself, for the promised benefits and blessings of liberty. Failure to pay that price, to accept the risks of living in a free society, can only serve to destroy that liberty and condemn that society.