Do Americans Want Freedom — Or a Depraved Strongman ‘Daddy’?

There is a devastating paradox at the heart of our American experiment: Do we truly want freedom, or do we want to be led and controlled by a strongman leader — emphasis on ‘man’? Do we seek real independence and shared freedom — or just lazy dependence coupled with selfish intolerance (that masquerades as ‘freedom’)?

Of course, healthy social interdependence would be the highest ideal to embrace and strive for — but we’re nowhere near fulfilling that dream. Why? Interdependence sounds too much like that dreaded right-wing bugaboo ‘socialism’! Instead, we keep veering between the extremes of too much independence and too much dependence. In that way, Americans are rather schizoid — emotionally split right down the middle (both internally, and externally in our society).

This essay explores that deep, paralyzing split.

Who are we, really, and what does each ‘side’ want?

Right-leaning Americans are always talking about their personal ‘freedom’ and ‘liberty’ and are quick to lash out at/suppress minorities and non-Christians. They usually hate a leader or central government (or anyone!) telling them what to do — yet paradoxically, they also deeply revere and want a strong, ‘macho’ leader who takes control. Often, they simultaneously want complete freedom and a controlling strongman ‘leading’ us.

Sorry, but reality doesn’t work that way. We can have one or the other — but not both.

Meanwhile, left-leaning Americans are always talking about shared, more inclusive ‘freedom,’ and insist on including minorities and non-Christians in our vaunted ‘freedom.’ Often, the left favors a strong central government that enforces our democratic ideals — but also resists and rejects the domineering ‘macho man’ aspect.

After Trump’s reelection in 2024, it’s clear that today’s right wants ‘macho’ leaders — like Trump — who will expand freedom for White Christian men… and limit it for everyone else. Meanwhile, the left seeks a democracy-supporting central government that expands rights and freedom for everyone, in furtherance of the basic ideals expressed in our Constitution.

Yet it’s mainly the right that yells incessantly about ‘freedom’ and being ‘canceled’ by the left and leftist media (never mind that there is no genuine leftist media anymore in the U.S.). So, what’s really going on here?

I’d say that, factually, what’s happening is the exact opposite of their claim: the left is being systematically oppressed, suppressed, and censored by the right and right-wing media. Especially today.

The social dynamic may be simply this: folks on the right want the total ‘freedom’ to do as they wish — including the ‘right’ to oppress or limit inferior ‘others’… while the left wants to expand freedom to include everyone. Oddly, both sides strongly desire ‘freedom’ — but they have very, very different, and in some ways mutually exclusive, definitions of what that means and what freedom looks like in practice.

And this stark difference spells BIG, endless trouble for the U.S.

Psychological differences between the political right and left

What are the underlying psychological causes for this huge dichotomy? Many studies have examined the psychological differences between right-leaning folks and the left, but the most telling difference is that, in general, the right is more focused on the ‘separate’ (White) individual and his/her freedom, while the left is more socially-focused and has a more inclusive, expansive view of freedom.

To simplify even further — and I’ll probably get some major push-back on this — I’d say right-leaning folks are more self-centered, fearful, and controlling. They are mainly concerned with their own unlimited freedom (including the freedom to disenfranchise, limit, or oppress others)… while ‘lefties’ are generally more socially-conscious and less self-centered. That’s what most of these studies conclude — and it’s also what I’ve observed over the span of 60-plus years in the U.S.

The major problem ensnaring the U.S. is that only one of these social stances and psychological states is conducive to building and maintaining a functional society that works for everyone. And even this statement, which shouldn’t be at all controversial (in any workable society), is a huge bone of contention — since not everyone even wants ‘a society that works for everyone.’

No, some of us want ‘superiority,’ control, and self-centered freedom much more than shared freedom and healthy interdependence. And I’ve got to say: it’s usually the right that hates more inclusive shared freedom. Plus, the right hates the idea of social interdependence (which they always condemn as ‘socialism’).

Our excessive individualism undermines our social survival

But that’s a tremendous problem, since a society by definition is a collection of people who choose to create, work, and live within a formal, shared social structure — and depend on each other to keep their society functional and alive.

Without such a commitment — our most fundamental ‘social contract’ — our society cannot and will not survive. Nor can any society survive and thrive for long if its members are too self-centered and not socially focused enough.

To me, this is the giant paradox that underlies almost all the deep partisan conflict in the U.S. Then there’s this: the right’s selfish ‘individualist’ interpretation of ‘freedom’ coincides completely with our self-centered capitalist focus. Each supports and validates the other, in an endlessly destructive, self-congratulatory ‘doom loop.’

This being the case, I have to say (and I’m not happy to say it) that our prospects in the U.S. are quite grim. It’s simply not possible to have a healthy, functional society based primarily on selfishness and naked self-interest. It’s a total non sequitur, a fundamental contradiction — yet that’s the way we’ve set up our society, and why it is now falling apart at the seams and starting to collapse.

What the 2024 election revealed

Of course, all this is exactly what the recent election in the U.S. exposed, at the deepest level. On one side, we had Donald Trump, who perfectly embodies the most extreme version of the uber-selfish, greedy “what’s in it for me and mine?” On the other side, we had Kamala Harris, who embodied the more inclusive ‘freedom for ALL’ mentality/vision.

And not coincidentally, Trump was (and is) the perfect prototype for an American strongman and fascist/capitalist leader, while Harris stood for true statesmanship and a solid commitment to public service and democracy. We all know what happened next: Trump won, and American democracy lost.

Today, the U.S. is split right down the middle. It’s beset by terrible divisiveness and growing rage and fear. We all know this, and hear about it almost daily. Since Trump’s inauguration on January 20, he has ‘moved fast and broken things’ (to paraphrase Elon Musk’s philosophy). He kept his promise (threat?) that he’d ‘be a dictator on day one’ only — but then, he never stopped being a dictator.

He rules — and dominates — via an endless stream of ‘executive orders’ that amount to one thing: tyranny in action. And no one — not our supine Congress, nor the Supreme Court, nor his policy advisors, nor the media — is trying to stop him and hold him accountable.

In just eight months, Trump’s bullying strongman tactics have overwhelmed our society on every front: economic, political, educational, scientific, racial, and religious. He and ‘his’ GOP are firmly in control, and put in motion an intensifying spree of social and economic oppression that threatens to capsize our society and undo all the social advances of the past 70 years.

More Americans chose tyranny over true democracy

In an earlier version of this article, before last fall’s election, I asked: Will we choose to move toward inclusive freedom for all — or perpetuate a selfish ‘freedom’ based on exclusion, racism, and capitalist excess? Sadly, we now know the answer: the majority of us freely chose a control-obsessed, vengeful ‘Daddy’ instead of a committed supporter of democracy, human rights, and freedom for everyone.

Scarily, the question posed in the title of this essay — “Do Americans want freedom — or a depraved strongman ‘Daddy’?” — has been answered. And the answer is not comforting.

Despite our endless affirmations of ‘freedom’ and our supposed commitment to building and maintaining ‘the land of the free,’ our actions keep showing that we don’t want freedom for all and can’t handle ‘freedom for all.’ Instead, most of us want an angry, super-controlling strongman ‘Daddy’ to tell us what to do and how to behave — and then force compliance and total capitulation.

And guess what? Our new ‘president’ (‘Tyrant Trump’ would be much more accurate) is only too happy to oblige.