Freedom Still a Principle Worth Fighting, Dying For

Within the last year — ever since President Joe Biden signed his four-year lease on the White House — the word "freedom" has taken on an unsavory, sinister connotation.

In December 2020 Biden announced that neither vaccines nor masking should be mandatory. Nine months later during a CNN town hall, he said that he supported firing any first responder who refused vaccination, and mocked the very idea of freedom.

"I waited until July to talk about mandating because I tried everything else possible. The mandates are working," he said, after confirming he supported vaccine mandates. "All the stuff about people leaving ... all the talk about all these folks who are going to leave if they're mandated, not true, you got about a 90 some percent vaccination rate."

He then claimed that people were trying to turn "freedom" into a "political issue."

"'I have the freedom to kill you with my COVID,' I mean come on, freedom," he said.

And it's worse in Canada. An army of Canadian truckers descended on Ottawa, the country's seat of power. Although 90% of them are vaccinated, the "Freedom Convoy" truckers are protesting vaccine mandates. They want their freedom back.

And Prime Minister Justin Trudeau overreacted, and likened the demonstration to terrorists.

Although there's no rioting, no arson, no looting, no assaults that were common during 2020's "Summer of Love," Trudeau has invoked Canada's Emergencies Act for the very first time in Canadian history. Their crime? Illegal parking.

For that Trudeau is going after their bank accounts, their licenses to engage in their trade, and even after crowdfunding platforms that collect donations and distribute them to the freedom truckers.

It's the sort of story that should rally the support of every American citizen to their cause. But it hasn't.

CNN senior national correspondent Miguel Marquez told "New Day" host John Berman that the members of the convoy want "their freedom back, whatever that means."

MSNBC "Morning Joe" Scarborough referred to the truckers as "anti-vaxxers" and called their movement "a cult."

Fox News Channel's Geraldo Rivera has been especially dismissive of the Freedom Convoy from the start.

"Their behavior has been nothing short of thuggish in Ottawa," he said. "They kept people in the neighborhood awake all night, revving their engines, blowing their horns. They've deprived Ottawa of business, of tens of millions of dollars, now they're blockading the international bridges."

Washington Post political cartoonist Michael de Adder tweeted a cartoon depicting a group of truckers, each hauling the same commodity — hate.

He tweeted another one showing a trucker poised to burst a balloon labeled "Economy" with a pin.

But de Adder was just getting started. He also published a cartoon of trucks hauling "fascism," and depicting Canadian truckers running over "democracy."

But de Adder has it all backwards.

Back in 2013 Trudeau revealed his true fascist, anti-democracy colors when he said, "There's a level of admiration I actually have for China because their basic dictatorship is allowing them to actually turn their economy around on a dime ..."

What's going on in America? When did we start supporting dictators like Trudeau?

Americans used to cherish freedom. We celebrate it every July 4th — Independence Day, that day in 1776 when the founders declared their independence from England, their freedom from tyranny.

President Ronald Reagan used to joke that Republicans celebrate the July 4^th, while Democrats celebrate April 15^th, tax day. That joke is becoming real.

Our economy is centered on capitalism, which is based on freedom of choice, where businesses attract customers by making their products better, flashier, less expensive than those of their competitors. Do you like Coke, Pepsi, or RC Cola? Or maybe an off-brand that's cheaper but just as good?

Americans celebrate freedom through their love of films like "Glory," "Selma," and "Independence Day." And Americans celebrate the freedom of others through motion pictures as well.

Near the end of the movie "Braveheart," which depicts the story of the 13^th century Scottish patriot Sir William Wallace, an English court finds Wallace guilty of high treason and sentences him to public torture and beheading. In the middle of his sentence being carried out, the magistrate offers Wallace a quick death if he asks for mercy.

Instead he cries out "freedom!" in a voice that's heard throughout London.

It wouldn't hurt each of us to watch "Braveheart" again, and during that final scene, maybe realize, as we wipe the tears from our eyes, that freedom isn't just a word — it's a principle, an ideal worth fighting for — and worth dying for.

Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and has been a frequent contributor to BizPac Review and Liberty Unyielding. He is also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and an enthusiastic Second Amendment supporter who can often be found honing his skills at the range. Read Dorstewitz's Reports — More Here.