It’s still the first month of America’s 250th birthday year, but it’s already clear that dark clouds are on the horizon. Socialism, not freedom, seems to have the political and popular momentum. It’s not just Mayor Zohran Mamdani in New York City. Democrats in Congress are prepping for big gains in the midterm elections, largely embracing a socialist agenda. An army of young activists is making socialist inroads from coast to coast.
But record-scratch: This is actually good news for those of us who still cherish freedom.
For the first time in decades, liberal leaders are basically admitting their socialist worldview. See Mamdani’s promise to “replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.” This is a direct affront and deliberate rebuttal to the Declaration of Independence’s promise of individual rights. And since liberals are finally saying what they really think, we can have the real battle for America’s soul.
At the heart of socialist ideology is that dangerous belief that the collective — i.e., government — is the fundamental building block of society. That’s a stark contrast to the quintessential American principle that all power flows from the individual, that our sovereignty reigns supreme. Hence why Mamdani’s housing director, Cea Weaver, says that New Yorkers will “have a different relationship to property than the one we currently have.” Hence why liberals in California and Congress want a tax on wealth, not just income, starting with the rich and surely soon the middle class. For natural rights, you’ll get what the state says you deserve.
That open attack on individualism is refreshing, because until now, liberal leaders cloaked it. President Barack Obama essentially rejected the sovereignty of the public when he said, “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that.” He was saying that the government did the building when it hired teachers and paved roads. No individual rights or effort involved. The Obama administration also gave us a vision of “the life of Julia,” a woman cared for by the government at every stage of her life. That was socialism, barely concealed.
Ditto the Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society, which he promised would bring about a kind of heaven on Earth through boundless and benevolent government action. Ditto Democratic President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who promised that the government would deliver us from want. You can even go as far back as Democratic President Woodrow Wilson, who argued that the Declaration of Independence was obsolete. Once that pesky primacy of the individual was gone, you could clear the way for government gone wild.
In reality, socialism has been the bedrock of the Democratic Party for over a century. But individual sovereignty is the essence of America and the source of our national success. If that principle is supplanted by the supremacy of the state, everything we’ve built will go with it, along with every liberty we’ve ever enjoyed — the right to earn income, the right to start businesses, the right to succeed by creating value for others. They all have to go because they threaten the power of the collective, which does not brook even a hint of opposition. Socialism is a boa constrictor, tightening until it kills its victim.
The silent majority of Americans who still love freedom can’t let that happen. So should sane leaders, on the Right and Left. But regurgitating history (collectivism killed 100-million-plus people in the 20th century) and predicting disaster (bread lines on Fifth Avenue) aren’t nearly enough. We need to remind the public exactly what individual sovereignty is and why it matters.
We need to make clear that sovereignty is a fancy word for a simple concept: the idea that you, and you alone, should be in control of your destiny. That you, and you alone, should decide your dream and your ambition. That you, and you alone, can choose the relationships and community that help you achieve more than you imagine.
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The alternative is to let someone else decide — or rather, something else. The government will dictate what you do, how you live, who you are, and who you can become.
When you put the choice that starkly, the vast majority of Americans will only answer one way. Democrats are finally giving our country the chance to see the ugly vision they really believe. The greatest gift we can give America in this 250th birthday year is to remind its citizens that, under the Declaration of Independence, they are the real rulers of our nation and the authors of their destiny.
John Tillman is CEO of the American Culture Project.