The (Warren) Epstein Files: With great freedom comes great responsibility

The flags flying, burgers grilling, fireworks mostly not popping in our neighborhoods.

What a time for us all to ponder what it means to be an American.

Most of us, when pressed, boil down the concept of America to one word: freedom.

But Trump is warning us that our freedom is at risk. It’s those “communists” who won so many of those Democratic primaries. They’re the latest boogiemen, as the threats of immigrants and trans people seem to be waning.

Of course, there are vast differences between democratic socialism and communism, and Trump, as usual, has come up with arguments aimed squarely at the ignorant and unengaged.

Still, this discussion about Trump’s fascist version of conservatism vs. this new breed of democrats is worth a closer look.

Trump’s version of freedom leans toward the unbound freedom of those in power. It’s the freedom of leaders to grift, to put rich and powerful men into positions of even greater power. It gives them the freedom to run agencies that oversee their own industries, so they can extract more money and power.

It’s the freedom to pollute. It’s the freedom to produce all the greenhouse gasses they want.

Welcome to the new Gilded Age.

And remind me: Why can’t we set off fireworks?

Oh, yeah. Fires.

The massive Aspen Acres fire southwest of Pueblo has burned more than 85,000 acres, including nearly 200 structures, and it’s still growing like mad in the dry heat of this Colorado summer.

Doesn’t it tell you something that Smokey the Bear has become a symbol of the resistance?

Scientists and politicians make the mistake of calling climate change “an existential threat.” People interpret that as meaning it’s some kinda vague otherworldly phenomenon that might or might happen at some point in the future.

No. Ask the people who’ve lost their homes. Ask the people who’ve lost family members to out-of-control wildfires.

Wildfires are only the most visible, immediate threat caused by the hotter, dryer climate in Colorado.

But it demonstrates how the freedom to live as we want, drive what we want, use up whatever resources we want, can actually have consequences that affect our freedom.

This was a lesson I was hoping we’d learn from Covid. The anti-maskers who hollered about their freedom didn’t think about how their spread of the virus actually led to less freedom for everyone. The masks weren’t just to protect you. But the unmasked spread the virus to others, and bars and restaurants had to close for everyone. 

Freedom kills, when those freedoms aren’t balanced by a sense of public good.

We see this debate played out again and again in discussions about reasonable limits on gun rights. We see it played out in economic and healthcare debates.

That’s because when we talk about freedom, we think of it as a personal, individual thing. But we live in a place where power is a commodity sold to the highest bidder, and those with money and power have freedoms that trump everyone else’s freedoms.

Is that the America we want? That way lies the freedom for our children to be killed by mass shooters. The freedom of data center magnates to suck up our precious water supplies. The freedom of greenhouse-producing industries to turn our state into a tinder box.

I have friends who are out there fighting those wildfires with shovels and sweat, trying to contain beasts that cannot be tamed. As we think about how much we miss the rocket’s red glare this Independence Day, I urge us to think about those folks, and to think about the kind of sacrifices we’re willing to make for long-term freedom.

For everyone.