Harris' false freedom would chain us to her activist tyranny

Suddenly, freedom is Kamala Harris' favorite word. Together with Tim Walz, she is forging a campaign strategy to strip Republicans of the mantle of “freedom,” a trademark that Republicans have claimed for themselves since the Reagan era.

Traditionally, freedom in America has meant that personal liberty is sacrosanct and subject to being trampled upon by a large, intrusive government.

Harris cleverly reinterprets the term to mean a more active government and a state with expanded entitlement systems.

Freedom, she says, is the ability to “get ahead,” “to be safe from gun violence,” “to have control over one’s own body,” and to be assured of the “sacred right to vote.”

Her running mate has taken up this issue.

When Republicans “talk about freedom,” Walz explains, “what they mean is that the government should have the freedom to come into your exam room, that it should have the freedom to pollute the air and water; that the banks should have the freedom to exploit the poorest.”

Of course, no reasonable person is for any of that.

And for better or worse, many, if not most, Americans today believe that abortion is a woman's personal choice, at least in the early weeks of pregnancy.

However, this only underscores the point that an overbearing government is the opposite of personal freedom.

The enduring lesson of history is that the worst episodes of tyranny and evil – from slavery to famine and genocide to Jim Crow laws and extreme poverty – occurred on to much Government power, not too little.

Since the nation's founding, most Americans have defined freedom as the right to choose how they want to live their lives.

In this respect, Harris and Walz can probably best be described as anti-liberty people with a dismal record when it comes to personal freedom.

Harris and Walz, for example, are staunch opponents of the growing school choice movement, which allows families to choose the best school for their children.

Doesn't freedom mean that everyone, regardless of income or skin color, has access to excellent schools?

Harris says she will deliver “freedom from gun violence,” but in cities governed by progressive Democrats, such as Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis and her hometown of San Francisco, crime rates and fatal shootings are much higher.

These cities already have the strictest gun laws.

She opposes a common-sense bill blocked by Senate Democrats that would require proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections.

But when non-citizens vote, their ballots revoke the “sacred right to vote” of eligible citizens.

Harris supports regulations that would ultimately lead to a ban on gasoline-powered cars.

Isn't the right to drive the car of your choice a fundamental freedom?

Harris supports bans or restrictions on a range of products, from lightbulbs to air conditioners to gas stoves.

Doesn't freedom mean keeping the government out of your bedroom and kitchen?

Harris supports the PRO Act, the first law that would force workers to join a union against their will or lose their jobs.

How does this promote freedom?

Harris advocates for Medicare for all.

Doesn't freedom mean being able to choose and keep your own health insurance plan?

Harris and Walz were among the strongest advocates of strict lockdowns in schools, businesses and churches during the Covid pandemic – even as evidence mounted that these restrictions would not end infections.

Doesn't freedom mean being able to run your business, attend church services, earn money, and pay your children's school fees?

Harris and Walz both supported mandatory COVID vaccination, even though its safety was questionable.

So much for “freedom over one’s own body”.

Harris supports significantly higher tax rates for companies and estates – and even wants not realized Capital gains on the value of a farm, ranch or family business.

Doesn't freedom also mean having the right to keep one's own money without excessive taxation and to pass one's savings on to one's children and grandchildren?

(Remember: Confiscatory inheritance taxes were a central point in Marx's Communist Manifesto.)

At their rallies, the Harris team loudly plays the song “Freedom” by Beyoncé.

One of her lyrics: “Freedom, set me free / Sing, freedom! Freedom! Where are you?”

Good question. Where has freedom gone in the last four years, when government spending and national debt have continued to rise despite falling net wages for workers?

The election may come down to whether Americans believe the lie that a strong government will lead our country down the path to freedom, or whether they recognize that it will continue to lead us down the road to slavery.

Stephen Moore is a visiting scholar at the Heritage Foundation and serves as an economic adviser to the Trump campaign.