Freedom is a blazing centerpiece of Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign. She tagged it nine times in her closing argument at the Ellipse in front of the White House this week. The contrast is fascism, which Donald Trump’s former top advisors warn us that he embodies, from Joint Chiefs of Staff chair General Mark Milley to White House chief of staff General Mark Kelly.
Her main focus on freedom is women’s constitutional reproductive rights, as decimated by the Supreme Court in its 2022 Dobbs decision, and the resultant threats to IVF (recently upheld by the Supreme Court!), contraception and marriage equality.
But she’s also passionate about freedom from gun violence, freedom to marry, freedom to enjoy clean air and water, freedom from climate pollution, and freedom to vote, as laid out in her convention speech.
Nearly a century after FDR took office at a fearful time with a joyous promise of “nothing to fear but fear itself,” Trump seeks the same office with a dark promise of everything to fear...
Our ancestors—President Franklin Roosevelt and his longest-serving cabinet members—in addition to winning the worldwide war against fascism, created the New Deal, which broke new ground in guaranteeing fundamental freedoms to help Americans recover from the devastation of the Great Depression.
To us, both fascism and freedom are on the ballot this November.
As for freedoms, let’s start with freedom for seniors to retire with a measure of economic security and dignity, as guaranteed by Social Security (which Trump has called a “Ponzi scheme” and promised to privatize or cut, and to terminate its basic funding source, the payroll tax, and Trump’s top benefactor Elon Musk now proposes to destroy).
As for FDR’s freedom for workers to organize and collectively bargain, to be guaranteed a livable minimum wage and unemployment insurance—it’s the opposite of Trump’s historically anti-union, anti-worker record—recently praising the firing of striking workers.
Freedom to have decent health care? Trump says the ACA “sucks” and should be “terminated,” and his plan to terminate the payroll tax would be devastating for Medicare.
Freedom from fascism? It was temporarily vanquished in 1945, but is now bizarrely resurgent, both abroad and in America. Vice President Henry Wallace presciently warned us about “American Fascism” in 1944 – predicting Trump to a “T.”
FDR valued freedom above all else. In 1941, he proposed the most expansive vision of freedom ever, encompassing freedom not only of religion and expression, but also freedom from want, and from fear. During the war, he framed the struggle as essential to lasting peace and security at home and abroad. He paved the way for freedoms yet to come.
Only later came the freedom to vote regardless of one’s skin color, the freedom for women to open a bank account, and the freedom to marry without regard to one’s skin color or gender. And for half a century, the freedom for women to make their own reproductive-health choices was an established constitutional right until Trump’s Supreme Court appointees suddenly decided to kill it.
The first woman presidential cabinet member, Frances Perkins, is shown greeting President Franklin D. Roosevelt upon his return to the White House from the 1943 Tehran Conference. Frances Perkins was US Secretary of Labor under Roosevelt from 1933 to 1945, longer than any other cabinet member has held the post. She died of a stroke at midtown Hospital on May 14, 1965.
Vice President Kamala Harris is picking up the mantle of freedom this election—all the freedoms we expect from good government to empower Americans to pursue individual happiness in life.
Sadly, convicted felon Donald Trump only cares about one person’s freedom: his own. A disgraced and convicted felon terrified of going to prison, he seeks the power to quash all criminal proceedings against himself. He proposes to weaponize the Justice Department, and even the military, against American citizens who displease him—“the enemy within”, expressly including domestic “Marxists and communists and fascists” like Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Trump's ignorance of the role of our Armed Forces is mind-blowingly dangerous. They are trained to kill, not to suppress dissent or enforce U.S. criminal laws.
Nearly a century after FDR took office at a fearful time with a joyous promise of “nothing to fear but fear itself,” Trump seeks the same office with a dark promise of everything to fear—from immigrants and crime, to a rigged justice system, our professional civil service, the news media, windmills, Haitians eating your pets, Obamacare, vaccines, and America’s untrustworthy elections. His pals at Project 2025 have helpfully fleshed out the details.
On the other hand, Kamala Harris joyously challenges us to “show each other—the world—who we are. And what we stand for. Freedom. Opportunity. Compassion. Dignity. Fairness. And endless possibilities.”
Every freedom that touches us personally is on the line on November 5—most fundamentally, freedom from fascism and the freedom to vote to protect our freedoms. Our revered ancestors are screaming at us from their graves.
The first woman presidential cabinet member, Frances Perkins, is shown greeting President Franklin D. Roosevelt upon his return to the White House from the 1943 Tehran Conference. Frances Perkins was US Secretary of Labor under Roosevelt from 1933 to 1945, longer than any other cabinet member has held the post. She died of a stroke at midtown Hospital on May 14, 1965.