Not really, says Robert Higgs in this Independent Institute essay.
Higgs takes a look at the Communist Manifesto and observes that we’re well along the way to achieving most of its planks.
The Orwellian manipulation of language has recently been a topic on LR. Our increasingly authoritarian political leaders want us to think that we live in a free country by emphasizing the aspects of life that they haven’t (yet) taken over, expecting that most Americans will never think about the great extent to which freedom has already been taken away. We’re “free” because “freedom” is defined as being allowed to do the things the state allows you to do. All those innumerable mandates and prohibitions? Well, they don’t take away freedom. They’re just in place to keep order, maintain safety, promote fairness and so forth.
