Freedom of choice is a venerable American value. Donald Trump’s attachment to it is, however, highly selective.
Over the first four months of his administration, Trump has been eagerly promoting the expansion of choice in our economic lives. That’s especially the case when it comes to our role as consumers. Think kitchens, baths and automobiles; the stated goal every time he talks about commodities has been increasing the number of options so we can select and buy what we like best – environmental effects notwithstanding. Even his tariffs are only supposed to bring temporary pain, as in emptier toy shelves, before American-made abundance starts to rule the day once again.
In our political lives, though, it’s a different story: the president and his administration have been busy instituting new restrictions on both the possibilities on offer and the picking itself. As citizens rather than consumers, we’ve been explicitly told our options are permanently contracting to “save our country”. No longer, for example, should it be possible to share “radical, anti-American ideologies” in our classrooms or decide how we want to be addressed.
