Zero Hour America by Os Guinness

Author:Os Guinness
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: cultural analysis;political gridlock;culture wars;political left;political right;polarization;republican;democrat;American politics;cultural divide;centrism;freedom;public life;Christian political witness;republic
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Published: 2022-06-23T08:17:08+00:00

THE ESSENTIALS OF LIFE

BASIC REQUIREMENTS FOR FREEDOM

LET THEM EAT cake!” Marie Antoinette’s infamous rejoinder to the news that the French peasants were starving and had no bread is almost certainly apocryphal, but it highlights a crucial lesson in the story of freedom. There can be no freedom unless the essentials of life are taken care of first. If the necessities of life are not in place for society as a whole or for some people within the society, freedom is limited for everyone. Any talk of freedom that remains will be exposed as hollow and hypocritical—a defense of privilege and reinforcement of inequality and injustice. The reason is that while the desire to be free is irrepressibly human, the desire to live is more basic still, and the need for the basics of life must be satisfied if freedom is to be given its place.

To live under our own vine and fig tree must never be a fancy rationale for excusing inhuman living conditions or for the injustice that allows some people to thrive at the expense of the poverty or the suffering of others. This warning should need no underscoring to Americans in light of America’s shameful acceptance of racism and slavery along with the claims and celebrations of freedom. Samuel Johnson nailed the hypocrisy with pinpoint accuracy at the very time of the American Revolution. It was as clear as the day even an ocean away. “How is it,” he said, “that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among those who are drivers of negroes?” But it is worth considering the lesson as a foundational principle that challenges us all.

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