The GOP agenda centers on taking away freedom, not defending it.
ROBERT REICH, robertreich.substack.com
In
reality, the Republican agenda centers on taking away freedom.
They’re
chipping away your freedom to choose when, how, and with whom you start a
family by passing ever more restrictive abortion bans.
They’re
chipping away the freedom to discuss sexual orientation and gender identity in
the classroom.
Many
are chipping away the freedom of trans people to receive life-saving,
gender-affirming care.
Many
are chipping away students’ freedom to learn about America’s history of racism
and discrimination.
They’re also chipping away at the most fundamental freedom of all: the right to vote – restricting everything from mail-in voting to ballot dropboxes.
But
their chipping away at freedom is even bigger than all this.
Can you really be free if you’re saddled with medical debt and have to routinely pay outrageous health care costs?
Can
you really be free if you have no voice in your workplace and your employer
refuses to let you organize with your coworkers for the right to collectively
bargain?
Can
you really be free if you’re not paid a living wage and have to choose between
feeding your family or keeping your lights on?
A
living wage, the right to join a union, guaranteed healthcare, the right to
vote – these are the foundations of real freedom.
Yet
Republicans oppose all of these.
There’s
a reason the historic 1963 rally was called The March on Washington for Jobs
and Freedom. Because freedom also means the ability to work in a job that pays
enough to provide food, clothing, shelter, and medical care.
What
Republicans want to preserve isn’t freedom, it’s power. The power to impose
their narrow ideology on everyone else, no matter who suffers. Don’t let their
propaganda convince you otherwise.
Robert Reich, is
the Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the University of California,
Berkeley, and a senior fellow at the Blum Center for Developing Economies. He
served as secretary of labor in the Clinton administration, for which Time
magazine named him one of the 10 most effective cabinet secretaries of the
twentieth century. His book include: "Aftershock"
(2011), "The Work of Nations" (1992), "Beyond Outrage"
(2012) and, "Saving Capitalism" (2016). He is also a founding
editor of The American Prospect magazine, former chairman of Common Cause, a
member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and co-creator of the
award-winning documentary, "Inequality For All." Reich's newest book
is "The Common Good"
(2019). He's co-creator of the Netflix original documentary "Saving
Capitalism," which is streaming now.