By Hugh McFarlane
April has been a quiet month for Australia. For the vast majority, it has been spent at home, figuring out ways to pass the time and deal with the financial costs of continued social distancing restrictions. It seems a lulled sense of calm has been forced upon our society after months of bushfires, drought and flood.
On the whole, Australians have done well in adjusting to this new way of life. Indeed, it was our acclimatisation to this ‘new normal’ that made recent scenes in the United States all the more shocking.
As we sat in our living rooms in stunned disbelief, we watched footage of American protestors gathering together in tight groups in front of hospitals and on the Capitol steps in DC. There were few facemasks to be seen and even less evidence that the protestors were upholding social-distancing measures. Signs read “Give me liberty or give me death!”,“Uphold our Constitution!”and “Wake up Sheep!”. These slogans, coupled with the unmistakable presence of MAGA hats, open-carry firearms and libertarian flags made one thing clear: this was a conservative protest movement.
Being a conservative myself, I was taken aback to see those wearing the same political label as me behaving so irresponsibly. I found myself asking whether this was really what conservatism is about. Do we block entrance points to hospitals now? Is that who we are as a movement?
It was only in asking these questions and discussing the issue with American conservatives that I began to understand why our US counterparts were responding so differently to the crisis. It appears the issue boils down to the perception of freedom within US conservative circles, and their movement’s intense focus on something called negative liberty.
What is negative liberty you ask?
Negative liberty is freedom from certain things. Natural law theory in the context of negative liberty would hold that as an individual, you should be protected from attacks on your rights. This is obviously a very reactive understanding of freedom.
On the other hand, there is positive liberty or the freedom tocertain things. A natural law understanding of positive liberty would be that as an individual, you have the right to live freely and to enjoy a decent quality of life. This is a fundamentally proactive approach to freedom.
Returning to the COVID-19 epidemic, we can easily recognise a strong tendency towards negative liberty in the rhetoric used by those sections of the American right campaigning for an end to social distancing restrictions. They are demanding freedom from what they see as undue/illegitimate government intervention in their lives. Bear in mind that this isn’t necessarily invalid. The Liberal Party was in part founded on a strong belief in negative liberty and freedom from tyranny.
The trouble lies in the American right’s extreme focus on negative liberties to the detriment of positive liberty. This has led to a situation where in protesting for freedom from government interference, they risk placing thousands of their fellow citizens on ventilators in intensive care.
Sadly, this is only one example of how so much of the American right has lost its way. Not only has its near-exclusive focus on negative liberties endangered the lives of thousands of fellow citizens during the pandemic, but over the years it has generated a dysfunctional healthcare system, disproportionately-high costs of living and dangerous scenes of gun violence for everyday Americans.
For most US conservatives, on a practical level, freedom from high taxation trumps each individual’s inalienable freedom to decent health. It creates a society in which many are forced to choose between bankruptcy or going without medical treatment in times of illness.
What’s more, an overzealous belief in freedom from government intervention in the economy has prevented meaningful minimum wage reform for decades. The obvious threat which this poses to one’s freedom to a fair quality of life appears lost on much of the American right.
Moreover, the freedom from tyranny ‘guaranteed’ by the 2nd Amendment has blinded many US conservatives to the importance of freedom to a sense of safety when attending school or going about one’s day. How many mass shootings is this particular negative liberty worth?
I don’t intend this to be a criticism of the United States at large. Ever since the drafting of our constitution, we have rightly looked across the Pacific to our freedom-loving cousins in America for political inspiration. Indeed, the US conservative movement is well-justified in wanting to uphold liberty. In doing so, however, it must remember that as human beings we are entitled to a fair and just society as much as we are entitled to freedom from attacks on our liberty. As a Liberal Party, we must be careful not to allow our movement to befall the fate of the American right. Let us not fail to promote positive liberties as we preserve negative freedoms.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSW Young Liberal Movement.
Photo credit: Business Insider, Australia
https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-trump-us-disinformation-foreign-interference-2020-4