The following has been excerpted, and edited for brevity, from the reissue of The Road to Freedom: Economics and the Good Society, first published in 2024 and newly reissued.
Since this book was first published in April 2024, the themes I raise in this book have only become more relevant.
As I explain in the original Preface, one of my intentions in writing this book was to reclaim the freedom agenda for progressives. Conservatives, who tried to make it their own over the past decades, failed to understand the very nature of freedom, often trampling on it even as they proclaimed they were championing it.
I thought these issues might become central to the US presidential campaign just then heating up. And indeed, for a moment they did. Democratic candidate Kamala Harris chose Beyoncé’s song, “Freedom,” as her campaign anthem. At the 2024 Democratic National Convention, when Harris was nominated, thousands of signs were held up that read “Freedom.” Governor Tim Walz’s acceptance speech for vice president seemed to take a page from the same book: “Freedom. When Republicans use the word freedom, they mean that the government should be free to invade your doctor’s office. Corporations—free to pollute your air and water. And banks—free to take advantage of customers. But when we Democrats talk about freedom, we mean the freedom to make a better life for yourself and the people you love. Freedom to make your own health care decisions. And yeah, your kids’ freedom to go to school without worrying about being shot dead in the hall.”
