Thom Hartmann: Freedom isn't just for the 1%

If this is a big idea election - then Mitt Romney should lose. On 60 Minutes - Romney said his "big idea" is...Freedom! That's it - Freedom. At least it can easily fit on a bumper sticker. You see - Mitt Romney's so-called "big idea" is the same "big idea" that's been pushed by every Republican since Reagan - freedom, freedom, freedom.

When Republicans are talking about freedom - they're not talking about freedom like we think of it. They're talking about freedom for billionaires and corporations. That's freedom from taxation - like the freedom for Mitt Romney to treat his capital gains income as special and pay a lower tax rate than the rest of us. Or the freedom for a corporation like General Electric to pay no taxes. They're talking about freedom from regulation - like the freedom for Koch Industries to pollute entire towns or let oil pipes explode now that government regulators have been taken out of the picture. They're talking about freedom from litigation - like the freedom for doctors and hospitals to not get sued when they amputate the wrong leg.

Or freedom for banksters not to get sued after they gamble away your savings or blow up your home's value. The so-called 'big idea" about freedom - pushed by Republicans for more than three decades, and now being pushed by Mitt Romney, is very specific, despite how vague it sounds. It means freedom for the wealthy elite to continue getting richer while the rest of us get poorer and poorer. That's why over the last three decades - ever since these freedom fighters for the rich took power - wealth inequality has exploded and the middle class has come under siege. Wall Street was given freedom to crash our economy and then get a bailout. Big oil was given freedom to destroy the Gulf of Mexico and yet continue to receive billions in subsidies courtesy of you and me the taxpayer.

But what new freedom have average Americans received? We're free to pay more money for basic essentials like food, energy, and education. We're free to choke on oil pollution. We're free to go fight in a war. If Republicans REALLY believed in freedom, then they should subscribe to the idea of freedom put forward by Franklin Roosevelt when he said that necessitous men are not free men. Freedom requires basic essentials to be met - freedom requires food, a job, a roof over your head, a good education, health care.

That's what the whole basis of FDR's New Deal was - to give freedom to working Americans. Republicans on the other hand want to give freedom to the super rich - to guys like Mitt Romney. Hence why Mitt Romney ridiculed half the nation who feels "entitled to food." It's clear - if Mitt Romney doesn't think access to food should be a basic freedom - then he doesn't know what the hell freedom means for working people.

So while Mitt Romney was busy selling this old big idea of freedom for billionaires - President Obama revealed what his big idea is. To him - it's about the Middle Class - and freedom to once again achieve the American Dream. This actually is a big idea. It's a big idea because it's what Roosevelt succeeded in doing 80 years ago with the New Deal, which is create a new contract between working people and the government. That contract was simple: if you work hard, do what you're supposed to do, keep your nose clean, then you can achieve the American Dream of a comfortable life. That contract has been shredded terribly during the last three decades.

The American Dream is harder and harder to achieve for working people - while the very wealthy have enough wealth now to achieve the American Dream a dozen times over. President Obama's big idea is to restore this contract. That means making the rich like Mitt Romney pay their fair share again - it means strengthening the social safety net - it means protecting domestic manufacturing with trade protection - and it means recognizing democracy in the workplace with organized labor. Republicans like Mitt Romney think all of those things restrict freedom - but in reality they only restrict freedom for the billionaire class and corporations who want the freedom to prey on the rest of us for profits.

So the big question for this election is - do we have freedom for all - REAL freedom? Freedom to have basic essential needs met, so that the American Dream is easier to achieve for all working Americans? Or do we just have freedom for the rich - as defined by Reagan and now by Romney? Freedom for oil barons to pollute, freedom for banksters to steal, and freedom for Paris Hilton and Mitt Romney to avoid paying their fair share in taxes. That's the question. Freedom shouldn't be reserved just for the 1%

The Big Picture with Thom Hartmann on RT TV & FSTV "live" 9pm and 11pm check www.thomhartmann.com/tv for local listings