Biden Redefines “Freedom and Democracy”

The upcoming presidential election will feature crucial policy debates on issues of importance to Americans, most notably the border and the economy. But November’s contest is also shaping up to be uniquely centered on existential themes and civilizational questions—including the candidates’ sharply divergent views of freedom and democracy.

Just as he did in 2016 and 2020, Donald Trump has grounded his campaign in a hopeful and optimistic vision for America’s future based on adherence to traditional American values. Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan reflects his belief that the principles outlined in the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights – key among them freedom and equality before the law – are the keys to building a prosperous and just society.

Joe Biden has relied heavily on overtures to freedom and democracy in his re-election bid. (He has largely replaced “equality” with “equity.”) But as his policy agenda over the last four years has shown, Biden’s ideas of freedom and democracy are fundamentally different than those of most Americans.

What is becoming clear to voters is that Joe Biden and his legion of far-left enablers are invoking “freedom” and “democracy” to usurp the original freedoms outlined in the Constitution. In their place, Democrats are working to impose a new and deeply sinister set of “freedoms” that strike at the heart of American democracy: freedom to abortion-on-demand, freedom to disenfranchise the American voter, freedom to indoctrinate American children with sexually explicit material, freedom to censor dissenting political ideas, freedom to persecute one’s ideological enemies, and a host of other radical policy goals.

Biden’s State of the Union Address on March 7 perfectly illustrated this fact. “What makes our moment rare is that freedom and democracy are under attack, both at home and overseas, at the very same time,” Biden warned in the speech.

Biden is ultimately correct in his stark assessment of the threat to American freedom—but not for the reasons he thinks.

Of the 14 times Biden used the word “freedom” in the State of the Union earlier this month, four were used in the context of “reproductive freedom”—or the “freedom” of a woman to abort her child with no restrictions during any month of pregnancy.

One use of the term was in the context of the so-called “Freedom to Vote Act,” a Democrat bill that would deprive states of the ability to run their own elections and allow leftists in Washington, D.C. to trample election security and redistrict Republicans out of power. The bill would ban Voter ID laws, prohibit states from cleaning up voter rolls to remove deceased voters and ensure that shady ballot harvesting practices become even more widespread.

Biden then used the word “freedom” five additional times to warn of vague conservative “assaults” and “attacks” on “freedoms,” which he left conspicuously undefined.

Biden and his left-wing allies have also invoked language of liberty and freedom to defend hot-button left-wing priorities like Critical Race Theory (CRT) in K-12 schools, transgender men competing in women’s sports, and using the police power of the federal government to unconstitutionally target Christians, conservatives, and the political opponents of the Democrat Party.

At the same time, Biden is directly responsible for historically high inflation, plummeting wages, and soaring energy prices—eroding Americans’ actual freedom to achieve self-determination and financial independence.

The Biden administration is also importing millions of illegal aliens into American communities through their open border policies. This imperils Americans’ freedom from fear by allowing violent criminals to roam American streets, while also undermining Americans’ democratic representation by creating ample opportunity for illegals to vote in elections.

Biden and his Department of Justice are also working overtime to imprison Donald Trump, Biden’s chief political opponent, posing a direct threat to Americans’ freedom to choose their own leaders – the very cornerstone of democracy.

Of course, the warped vision of “freedom” advanced by Biden and other Democrats is completely out of step with the freedoms envisioned by our Founding Fathers nearly 250 years ago. And today, a resounding majority of Americans firmly stand against it.

Polling indicates that more than seven in 10 Americans oppose abortion after 15 weeks and nearly 80 percent of Americans reject Biden’s policy of abortion on demand.

Meanwhile, 80 percent of Americans support voter ID requirements—a measure generally opposed by Democrats in Washington.

American parents also remain gravely concerned about the influence of inappropriate sexual, racial, and partisan content in their children’s classrooms. And the American people overwhelmingly support our nation’s longstanding constitutional right to speak and worship freely and without fear of persecution.

As the country prepares for a historic campaign cycle this fall, voters are increasingly coming to see that this election is a choice not only between two candidates and two presidents, but also between two visions, two philosophies, and two wildly incompatible views of American freedom.

But perhaps even more importantly, as Election Day approaches, more and more voters are coming to see that Joe Biden is not a heroic defender of American freedom and democracy, but rather the biggest threat to those ideals.

Aaron Flanigan is the pen name of a writer in Washington, D.C.