Escape From Freedom

At the conclusion of World War II, the psychologist/philosopher Erich Fromm wrote a book entitled Escape from Freedom.  He sought to explain why so many Germans had embraced Nazism.  According to Fromm, they were terrified of the freedom they had achieved under the Weimar Republic.

Until 1918, kings and nobles had always ruled over the Germans.  During the 19^th century, the nation had actually been reunited under the firm hand of Otto von Bismarck.  He served as a protective father figure.  Thus, without someone like him, many feared collapse and ruin.

Adolf Hitler promised to return the Reich to glory.  He would undo the damage inflicted by the Great War and provide the necessary leadership.  Ordinary citizens would not have to worry about the anarchy of democracy because he would choose the course they would follow.

According to Fromm, the crucial problem was that people fear making independent choices.  They know that they are prone to making mistakes and hence they want someone smarter and stronger to decide for them.  Freedom is a burden that places them in jeopardy.

Contemporary Americans seem to be responding in a comparable way to the uncertainties of recent years.  Although two centuries of democracy should have inoculated them against the temptations of demagoguery, they apparently have not.

Our situation is a bit different than the post-war Germans in that our nation has not been devastated by an unexpected defeat.  Foreign armies have not brought us to our knees or imposed a staggering debt.  No, we have inflicted this latter woe, and other liabilities, upon ourselves.

Affluence, paradoxically, is our greatest challenge.  We have grown so wealthy that we expect to have everything we want when we want it.  Then, after this does not happen, we demand that someone save us from our own freedom.  We insist that they do the choosing.

Consider how many factors are at our own discretion.  We must decide if we will marry or have children.  We decide what sort of occupation we will enter and how we will prepare for it.  We even choose which, of ten thousand cereals, we should eat for breakfast.  It is all so confusing.

Fortunately, we possess a crop of presidential candidates who are prepared to relieve us of this burden.  Bernie Sanders is one such munificent soul.  He vows to give us free medical care and a college education gratis.  He will simply take from the rich to give to the poor so that we will not have to fend for ourselves.

As for Hillary, she is not quite so generous—but she is getting there.  Her main concern is protecting us from the depredations of Wall Street.  She tells us that investment bankers are the source of our distress and therefore once they have been tamed, our anxieties will disappear.  (And her bank balance augmented?)

Meanwhile, the Donald will make us great again.  He is so smart that he will do the bargaining for us.  All we need to do is sit back and allow him to repulse those mean-spirited Mexicans, Muslims, and Chinese.  Clearly, we do not know how to do this for ourselves.

We Americans have evidently forgotten how to compete.  Nor do we want to control our own medical expenses or educational endeavors.  Let the government decide.  Its experts obviously know best.  After all, if the federal government did not confiscate our incomes, we might squander what we earned on frivolous diversions.

So let Bernie, Hillary, or Donald tell us what to do.  Like those university students who do not want to be exposed to opinions with which they disagree, we too are apparently snowflakes.  We might melt, if we chose unwisely.

Barack Obama once promised hope and change.  How well was he able to fulfill this pledge?  Why then do we continue to seek counterfeit paladins?  Haven’t we learned that these folks are no smarter or nicer than the rest of us?  Freedom can be dangerous, but is it more dangerous than trusting a bunch of boastful politicians?

Melvyn L. Fein, Ph.D.

Professor of Sociology

Kennesaw State University