Whose Freedom? The Battle Over America's Most Important Idea

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• George Lakoff
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Whose Freedom

Moral Politics and Don’t Think of an Elephant! established George Lakoff as an intellectual guru to the Democratic party, earning him praise from Bill and Hillary Clinton, Howard Dean, George Soros, Robert Reich, as well as from grassroots organizations like MoveOn.org, among others—to say nothing of his ardent fans in Hollywood.

A world-renowned linguist, Lakoff brings to this new book his clear-eyed talent for careful analysis, focusing on the most important word in our political vocabulary–freedom. But WHOSE FREEDOM? The Battle over America’s Most Important Idea offers more than mere analysis; it is a manifesto and a user’s manual for progressives.

Freedom is one of the most contested words in American political discourse, the keystone to the domestic and foreign policy battles that are racking this polarized nation. Since September 11, 2001, the Bush administration has relentlessly invoked the word freedom. The United States can strike preemptively because “freedom is on the march.” Social security should be privatized in order to protect individual freedoms. In the 2005 presidential inaugural speech, the words “freedom,” “free,” and “liberty” were used forty-nine times.

For many Democrats, it seems that President Bush’s use of the word is meaningless and contradictory-deployed opportunistically to justify American military action abroad and the curtailing of civil liberties at home. But in WHOSE FREEDOM?, Lakoff shows that in fact the right has effected a devastatingly coherent and ideological redefinition of freedom. The conservative revolution has remade freedom in its own image and deployed it as a central weapon on the front lines of everything from the war on terror to the battles over religion in the classroom and abortion.

In a deep and alarming analysis, Lakoff explains the mechanisms behind this hijacking of our most cherished political idea-and shows how progressives have not only failed to counter the right-wing attack on freedom but have failed to recognize its nature. WHOSE FREEDOM? argues forcefully what progressives must do to take back ground in this high-stakes war.

WHOSE FREEDOM? The Battle over America’s Most Important Idea ($18.00 hardcover; 288 pages; ISBN: 0374158282) will be published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux on July 4, 2006.