John Whitehead's Commentary
A Time to Remember the Four Freedoms
We look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.
The first is freedom of speech and expression-everywhere in the world.
The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way--
everywhere in the world.
The third is freedom from want . . . everywhere in the world.
The fourth is freedom from fear . . . anywhere in the world.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Message to Congress, January 6, 1941
The tragedy of September 11, 2001, has weighed heavily on the hearts and minds of Americans this last year. Those terrible events have changed the way we define freedom and challenged our beliefs and values as Americans. Though many of us disagree on the right course of action in these troubled times, all of us feel a renewed sense of appreciation for the freedoms we enjoy and a renewed sense of commitment to defend them.
As we gather together to celebrate the holidays with family and friends, let us give thanks for those freedoms we often seem to take for granted, remembering that the bounty set before us was won at the cost of much adversity and spilled blood. Let us also recognize that it is those very rights for which we are fighting--rights that have made this country great--which we must guard if we are to continue to be a land of "liberty and justice for all."
Within the past year, our government leaders have sought legislation to reinforce our military and prioritize security concerns over privacy rights. Yet even in our efforts to eradicate terrorism, we would do well to remember what President Franklin Delano Roosevelt reminded Congress of on January 6, 1941-that without moral strength, there is no defense against tyranny.
With the world on the verge of World War II--less than a year before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor--FDR warned of the impending fray and urged members of Congress to support the need to arm for defense, even as he proclaimed:
Freedom of speech and expression. There can be no democracy without free expression. If citizens are not free to speak their minds and even protest against governmental actions, then tyranny is the result. Yet even as President Bush recognizes that we should not allow the terrorists to win by "restricting our freedoms," some of our government's recent actions--i.e., the passage of an anti-terrorism laws that allow the government to reach into every facet of our private lives--threaten to do just that.
Freedom to worship in accordance with the dictates of one's conscience--a founding principle of our country. Incredibly, even as the choruses of "God Bless America" rang out across the land following the attacks of September 11, religious liberty was under attack as well. There were numerous examples of religious expression being silenced, ranging from the third-grader at a Virginia elementary school who was told by his teacher that he could not draw "God Bless America" on his art class picture, to the sophomore class float at a Montana high school that was dedicated to those who lost their lives on September 11. The float bore the words "God Bless America" and two crosses. Before their float could be in the parade, however, the students were forced to remove the crosses.
Freedom from want. There is little dispute in modern-day America that there is "want" both at home and in the international arena. Hunger, disease, homelessness and orphaned and abandoned children are depicted daily in magazines, newspapers, television shows and the speeches of politicians. Almost as widely discussed are the "wants" of loneliness, depression, stress, drug abuse and addiction, isolation and despair. However, it is the response to the problem of "want" that is important.
For most people, this problem has become simply a "checkbook" issue. Too many Americans have become comfortable with the notion that we can pay someone else to deal with the problem of want. Thus, we too often dismiss the plight of the homeless pregnant woman by recalling that our church sends money to the local shelter, or we send money to the local AIDS ministry but wouldn't be caught dead taking soup to the home of a dying homosexual. The point is that while we must continue supporting the charitable organizations, we must renew our commitment to personal involvement. Only individuals can serve up true compassion.
Freedom from fear. We've witnessed tyranny--from the Nazis in Germany to the ethnic strife in Bosnia to the terrorist acts of groups such as the Ku Klux Klan in the United States to the Communist brutality in China to the cruelties practiced by the Taliban in Afghanistan. Obviously, this is a time when many Americans are fearful of the future. Fear is a terrible feeling, one that chokes and stifles. But we must be mindful that even though there is a legitimate reason to be concerned, we cannot allow fear to so consume us that we are willing to forfeit our sacred freedoms for some temporary security.
We face some tough times ahead. But if we work together, we can ensure that our essential freedoms prevail while striving to help those less fortunate than ourselves, no matter where they may live.
As FDR told Congress on a cold day in January, 1941:
The first is freedom of speech and expression-everywhere in the world.
The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way--
everywhere in the world.
The third is freedom from want . . . everywhere in the world.
The fourth is freedom from fear . . . anywhere in the world.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Message to Congress, January 6, 1941
The tragedy of September 11, 2001, has weighed heavily on the hearts and minds of Americans this last year. Those terrible events have changed the way we define freedom and challenged our beliefs and values as Americans. Though many of us disagree on the right course of action in these troubled times, all of us feel a renewed sense of appreciation for the freedoms we enjoy and a renewed sense of commitment to defend them.
As we gather together to celebrate the holidays with family and friends, let us give thanks for those freedoms we often seem to take for granted, remembering that the bounty set before us was won at the cost of much adversity and spilled blood. Let us also recognize that it is those very rights for which we are fighting--rights that have made this country great--which we must guard if we are to continue to be a land of "liberty and justice for all."
Within the past year, our government leaders have sought legislation to reinforce our military and prioritize security concerns over privacy rights. Yet even in our efforts to eradicate terrorism, we would do well to remember what President Franklin Delano Roosevelt reminded Congress of on January 6, 1941-that without moral strength, there is no defense against tyranny.
With the world on the verge of World War II--less than a year before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor--FDR warned of the impending fray and urged members of Congress to support the need to arm for defense, even as he proclaimed:
As men do not live by bread alone, they do not fight by armaments alone. Those who man our defenses and those behind them who build our defenses must have the stamina and the courage which come from an unshakable belief in the manner of life which they are defending. The mighty action that we are calling for cannot be based on a disregard of all the things worth fighting for.FDR summed up the things worth fighting for in what he called the four essential freedoms: freedom of speech and expression, freedom to worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. These freedoms are still worth fighting for and are in greater peril than we might suspect.
Freedom of speech and expression. There can be no democracy without free expression. If citizens are not free to speak their minds and even protest against governmental actions, then tyranny is the result. Yet even as President Bush recognizes that we should not allow the terrorists to win by "restricting our freedoms," some of our government's recent actions--i.e., the passage of an anti-terrorism laws that allow the government to reach into every facet of our private lives--threaten to do just that.
Freedom to worship in accordance with the dictates of one's conscience--a founding principle of our country. Incredibly, even as the choruses of "God Bless America" rang out across the land following the attacks of September 11, religious liberty was under attack as well. There were numerous examples of religious expression being silenced, ranging from the third-grader at a Virginia elementary school who was told by his teacher that he could not draw "God Bless America" on his art class picture, to the sophomore class float at a Montana high school that was dedicated to those who lost their lives on September 11. The float bore the words "God Bless America" and two crosses. Before their float could be in the parade, however, the students were forced to remove the crosses.
Freedom from want. There is little dispute in modern-day America that there is "want" both at home and in the international arena. Hunger, disease, homelessness and orphaned and abandoned children are depicted daily in magazines, newspapers, television shows and the speeches of politicians. Almost as widely discussed are the "wants" of loneliness, depression, stress, drug abuse and addiction, isolation and despair. However, it is the response to the problem of "want" that is important.
For most people, this problem has become simply a "checkbook" issue. Too many Americans have become comfortable with the notion that we can pay someone else to deal with the problem of want. Thus, we too often dismiss the plight of the homeless pregnant woman by recalling that our church sends money to the local shelter, or we send money to the local AIDS ministry but wouldn't be caught dead taking soup to the home of a dying homosexual. The point is that while we must continue supporting the charitable organizations, we must renew our commitment to personal involvement. Only individuals can serve up true compassion.
Freedom from fear. We've witnessed tyranny--from the Nazis in Germany to the ethnic strife in Bosnia to the terrorist acts of groups such as the Ku Klux Klan in the United States to the Communist brutality in China to the cruelties practiced by the Taliban in Afghanistan. Obviously, this is a time when many Americans are fearful of the future. Fear is a terrible feeling, one that chokes and stifles. But we must be mindful that even though there is a legitimate reason to be concerned, we cannot allow fear to so consume us that we are willing to forfeit our sacred freedoms for some temporary security.
We face some tough times ahead. But if we work together, we can ensure that our essential freedoms prevail while striving to help those less fortunate than ourselves, no matter where they may live.
As FDR told Congress on a cold day in January, 1941:
This nation has placed its destiny in the hands, heads and hearts of its millions of free men and women, and its faith in freedom under the guidance of God. Freedom means the supremacy of human rights everywhere. Our support goes to those who struggle to gain those rights and keep them. Our strength is our unity of purpose. To that high concept, there can be no end save victory.Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute and author of Grasping for the Wind. He can be contacted at johnw@rutherford.org.
ABOUT JOHN W. WHITEHEAD
Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. His most recent books are the best-selling Battlefield America: The War on the American People, the award-winning A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State, and a debut dystopian fiction novel, The Erik Blair Diaries. Whitehead can be contacted at staff@rutherford.org. Nisha Whitehead is the Executive Director of The Rutherford Institute. Information about The Rutherford Institute is available at www.rutherford.org.
Publication Guidelines / Reprint Permission
John W. Whitehead’s weekly commentaries are available for publication to newspapers and web publications at no charge. Please contact staff@rutherford.org to obtain reprint permission.
