In this Viewpoint Web exclusive, Eliot Spitzer and George Lakoff, co-author of The Little Blue Book: The Essential Guide to Thinking and Talking Democratic, discuss the meaning of the words freedom and democracy as Democrats define them versus how Republicans define them.

The Republican argument always reverts to the word freedom. And freedom in their linguistic structure means freedom from government, Spitzer notes. But despite this obsession with freedom, Republicans seem to have no problem with subjugating individuals to corporate power, Spitzer points out.

Lakoff agrees, noting, Rather than being about citizens caring about each other and providing for each other, [Republicans] see democracy as about the liberty to pursue your self-interest and your own well-being without being responsible for the well-being or interests of anybody else.

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Viewpoint: Why Democrats should re-appropriate ‘freedom’