Fear Itself

I hope you'll forgive my soapbox, as I think about being an American outside the country on an important day.

On January 6, 1941, FDR articulated a vision of what the United States of America could, and should, represent in the world. As part of his State of the Union address, he was explaining why the USA should support the British against the Nazis, and he said:

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.

To that new order we oppose the greater conception -- the moral order. A good society is able to face schemes of world domination and foreign revolutions alike without fear.

Since the beginning of our American history we have been engaged in change, in a perpetual, peaceful revolution, a revolution which goes on steadily, quietly, adjusting itself to changing conditions without the concentration camp or the quicklime in the ditch. The world order which we seek is the cooperation of free countries, working together in a friendly, civilized society.

This nation has placed its destiny in the hands and heads and hearts of its millions of free men and women, and its faith in freedom under the guidance of God. Freedom means the supremacy of human rights everywhere. Our support goes to those who struggle to gain those rights and keep them. Our strength is our unity of purpose.

To that high concept there can be no end save victory.

This speech reflects ideals which the United States has rarely lived up to, but that doesn’t make them less valuable. The America that FDR describes here is one I want to live in, that I am proud to call my home. At the time, the Four Freedoms proved as inspirational outside the United States as they were inside the country. But the freedoms serve as a goal for Americans to pursue, both within our borders and around the world.

At a time when our country seems more divided than ever, and the world seems drawn more and more to a ‘new order’ on offer from Russia or China (one where political freedom is traded for material prosperity), I think we need to remember this speech, and its moment. January 1941 was a pretty dark time for democracy: the Nazi-Soviet pact still held, the British were on the ropes, France had fallen, and Japan was on the march. FDR had just been elected to an unprecedented third term, and had instituted the first peacetime draft in U.S. history.

Keeping the differences between 1941 and 2017 in mind, the Four Freedoms still offer us a path forward, through:

• Common goals (securing freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from want, and freedom from fear), even if we disagree on how to achieve those goals.

• A resolve to refuse the power of fear: even though FDR refers to arms, I also love how the speech urges Americans to refuse fear more generally: “A good society is able to face schemes of world domination and foreign revolutions alike without fear.” This should be familiar for Christians: “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Timothy 1:7, ESV).

• The choice to accept and commit to imperfect processes: After all, the good society can refuse fear because, even though it “placed its destiny in the hands and heads and hearts of its millions of free men and women,” who are fickle and feeble, it also puts “its faith in freedom under the guidance of God.” Our American experiment, the American Revolution, continues, “steadily, quietly, adjusting itself to changing conditions without the concentration camp or the quicklime in the ditch.” To refer back to 2 Timothy, God replaces fear not simply with power but also with love and self-control.

• The reminder that no matter what divides Americans, or even what divides freedom-loving people all over the world from each other, “Our strength is our unity of purpose. To that high concept there can be no end save victory.”

This is not to paper over the real differences and divisions within the United States; rather, let’s acknowledge those (provided for under the First Freedom), and move forward from that starting point to try and empathize with one another and find some unity of purpose. It takes a conscious choice to refuse fear, and to pursue unity. But if we choose to see from others’ perspectives, and assume others are acting in good faith rather than bad faith, I think it would be a good start toward achieving that unity of purpose. After all, “to that high concept there can be no end save victory.”