Freedom Is Not Free

While freedom may not be free, please, don't charge us to save it...

Freedom is an ideal that humans have been grappling with since time immemorial.

“Freedom is the right to live as we wish.” — Epictetus

The Greek philosopher Epictetus was born a slave in 55 AD. After gaining his freedom Epictetus became a teacher. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy describes Epictetus as an “exponent of Stoic ethics” whose “chief concerns (were) with integrity, self-management, and personal freedom” and whose influence on Western political and philosophical thought spans the 2,000 years hence.

On the Korean War Memorial on the mall in Washington D.C. “Freedom Isn’t Free” is boldly chiseled into the marble edifice exhorting us to remember the sacrifices made by heroes past such that we could enjoy the blessings of liberty under siege today. The men freezing as they crossed the Delaware in darkness under Washington’s orders on Christmas in 1776. As Lincoln said in his Gettysburg Address, those who, “… gave the last full measure of devotion.” The ‘dough boys’ of World War I, and those who sacrificed themselves at Normandy and Okinawa and all the European and Pacific battles of the 2^nd World War.

Washington’s army was tired and poorly clothed against the punishing winter storm they faced that fateful night. Washington feared that if he waited and the Delaware froze over, as it eventually would, the superior British forces would march across it and the revolution would be lost. “Victory or Death” were the challenge words and counter signs of the men who dared to make that crossing. The Continental Army victory at Trenton was a tipping point, boosting morale among the bedraggled troupes and inspiring many much needed additional men to join the revolution.

Over 360,000 Union soldiers died in the American Civil War defending the United States against domestic enemies who would have destroyed the country just 84 years after its founding. In the early part of the 20^th Century, the ‘Great War’ as WWI was called in that era, was the first time the United States sent soldiers abroad to fight for foreign soil. One hundred sixteen thousand of them didn’t come home.

Before the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 there was a great deal of support, supported by a great deal of propaganda, for the US to stay out of the war raging in Europe. Writing for the Smithsonian, Max Wallace chronicles, “…how the close friendship and ideological bond between automotive pioneer Ford and aviator Lindbergh culminated in an abuse of power that helped strengthen Hitler's regime and undermined the Allied war effort. Wallace traces Henry Ford's ties to Nazi Germany back as far as the 1920s, presenting compelling evidence of a financial paper trail proving that Ford subsidized the rise to power of Adolf Hitler, who described Ford as "my inspiration." Over 400,000 Americans died in WWII fighting fascism and defending democracy and the world from domination.

The abominable, illegal and unconstitutional actions of Musk, along with the feckless capitulation of Bezos and Zuckerberg and Pichai, Cook, Brin and others are not the first time America has seen collaboration with the forces of evil by the super wealthy. Betting they can buy insulation for themselves, they are spending and genuflecting to protect their business interests at the expense of freedom for the rest of us.

There were 2,500 Americans, 1,760 British, and 370 Canadians who died on D-Day alone. They sacrificed themselves that day to defend democracy, for us. Now the time is ours and we are being tested. We must ask ourselves and each other what we are willing to do. To forego? What are we willing to sacrifice…?

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Freedom isn’t free, but in these times when democracy is threatened by oligarchs and those who literally sell us out, it seems ironically transactional to be required to have a paid subscription to be told how to save it.

Many contributors of heft, before the election and since, spoke to the existential threat to democracy that is this criminal cabal of murder clowns. And we do, so many of us believe that to be fact. So, in this truly existential fight for democracy and the planet it would seem exceedingly beneficial for the future of democracy and the planet if those of great influence at the intellectual, moral, and factual forefront would grant the rest of us access to more than the occasional excerpts of their guidance until we can collectively rid ourselves of the orange plague…

These writers and people of pinnacle influence are our ethical intelligentsia, the holders of our moral compass, delineators of codes of responsibility, our spiritual guides, our collective conscience, our thought leaders in the fight to resist fascism. We desperately need their voices of wisdom to articulate the way out of the valley of the shadow of death, even as we cannot afford to buy it.

On Tyranny. Own it. A must read. Strongmen…same. Autocracy Inc, that’s next on my list. These and other long form works are tediously difficult to assemble, of great value for the insights they provide, and absolutely worth the cost. Every penny. But asking us to pay for daily thoughts, weekly essays, and frequent conversations with other influencers, regardless of how powerful and poignant, seems a lot to ask, in this moment. If I paid for subscriptions to all the people I follow it would cost me hundreds of dollars a month. And I truly can’t afford that right now. The average person can’t afford that right now. Eggs are $12 a dozen for fucks’ sake.

George Washington, “We’ll be able to cross the Delaware if we get just ten more subscriptions before midnight…”

Said Lincoln, “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men should have to pay to subscribe.”

“The only thing we have to fear,” said FDR, “is fear of not having enough paid subscriptions to justify fighting fascism.”

In his first inaugural address, JFK said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do to get more paid subscriptions.”

And I get it. I really do get it. Writing is hard. Good writing is vastly harder. As Groucho Marx put it, “Life is easy. Comedy is hard.” He of course wrote comedy. But what has now become even harder and of the gravest importance is ensuring that we save democracy, and surely that demands that we all make contributions if not sacrifices in kind. Not everybody is able to do so, of course. For those for whom their writing is their principal source of income it’s understandable that they ask to get paid. I wish I could help, but I can’t and there are lots of folks out there worse off than we are. But for those who by the grace of their personal dedication, hard won achievements, and studious labors are able to grant the rest of us the benefit of their wisdom and insights and yet continue to pay their bills…

“Of those to whom much is given, much is required.”

But these are the kind of messages I see constantly:

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Pay to be a Founding Member?

This is how I imagine it might go today if those enlightened patriots of 1776 were around today:

Franklin: “Hey, George! What’s it cost to become a Founding Member?”

Washington: “Victory or Death!”

Franklin: “I’m down…”