Bush in his inaugural speech used the word FREEDOM more than two dozen times. But what does he mean by freedom? As we have watched him in the past four continue the dismantling of the New Deal (a continuation of the direction of Reagan) it becomes obvious that George Bush does not mean the basics of freedom as enumerated by FDR. In fact, he has actively worked against each one.
"THE FOUR FREEDOMS delivered by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, on January 6, 1941
[...]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. That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation. That kind of world is the very antithesis of the so-called "new order" of tyranny which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb." http://www.libertynet.org/~edcivic/fdr.html
He has opposed the first freedom, that of speech and expression by siding with censorship at every opportunity.
He has opposed freedom of religion in favoring certain approved forms of religion, and allowing followers of that religion to interfere with government and science.
He has opposed freedom from want by dismantling the social safety net, and by championing the exploitation of the middle class by making common cause with corporate interests.
He has not only opposed freedom from fear, but actively inflames fear to increase his power. For George Bush fear is an ally.
So what is the freedom that Bush supports?
I believe the freedom that Bush speaks so highly of, is the freedom to accumulate wealth and power absent of any social considerations. It is the freedom of the strong to take what they can from the weak. It is the freedom to ignore environmental concerns. It is the freedom to dominate and destroy any who do not agree. It is the freedom from inconvenient facts, in which speech can be used in any manner that assists in the accumulation of wealth and power. In short it is the freedom of fang and claw, the freedom of the jungle.