Four Freedoms 2025

"In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.

The first is freedom of speech, and expression—everywhere in the world.

The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way—everywhere in the world.

The third is freedom from want—which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants—everywhere in the world.

The fourth is freedom from fear—which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor—anywhere in the world."

-Franklin Roosevelt, January 6, 1941

I hadn't thought much about the Four Freedoms, a concept we learned about in grade school back when I was a kid, until I ran across this cartoon at four in the morning as I went scrolling for something that would distract me from the usual work terrors.

I've been a fan of Mike Luckovich at the Atlanta Journal and Constitution for decades. He's of another generation, like me, and knows enough history that he can make an allusion to what was once a shared memory to make a point.

This, of course, being the set of images that are the source of his bitter parody.

Norman Rockwell, circa 1943. Reminding our country in a moment of total war, which at the time wasn't going so well, what we were fighting for as free people.

Of course, none of that had happened when FDR delivered his speech to Congress in January of 1941. The country, in fact, appeared to have been pretty well split over whether to enter the war and save western democracy from fascism. Roosevelt wanted to remind Americans of what was at stake, and to expand the rugged libertarian fantasy view of what freedom means to a vision of human thriving and security. My recollection is that the Republicans back then didn't think much of his sales pitch, but the Imperial Japanese Navy decided the issue of entering the war for us eleven months later.

And exactly seventy years after the Four Freedoms speech, the MAGA rebels stormed the Capitol and effectively brought an end to the iteration of the American experiment that had brought us clean water, great roads, some measure of old age security, and access to health care for those who couldn't afford it. This whole felicitous arrangement limps on for a while longer, like I'm told a gunshot victim with a gaping hole in his chest will often keep walking and talking until shock kicks in, but in reality we're cooked as a country.

All the more insulting is that we changed jerseys and joined the fascists. When Germany is the one country standing tallest for the sort of freedom FDR envisioned in 1941, you know things have definitely changed.

Like a lot of people, I ponder a lot about what to do about all this. I mean, what can I do? Storming the Capitol seems stupid and counterproductive. Moving abroad may be cutting off our noses to spite our face, insofar as a little villa on a Greek island probably means no source of income, but it may come to that if they work far enough down the list to come for two old white Southerners who've said unkind things about Dear Leader.

Here's an example of what we can do, from yesterday's paper.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/staff-mutiny-forces-pub-to-turn-away-jd-vance/

If they come into your place of business, don't serve them. It's a start.

Time to get ready for a busy day. I'll know at 8:45 if Monday's trial is continued. We should've known days ago, but judges sometimes don't realize the disruption all this limbo causes in a trial lawyer's life. Another reason to keep feeling for the professional exit.