Freedom Flyer 32

A column by David Frum, Fight left with renewed conservatism (Sept. 20), and a letter by John Timar, Freedom resides with the left wing (Oct.2), both try to identify freedom with one point on the left-right political spectrum. In that attempt they both make the same mistake. They try to take freedom (the highest standard we can measure a political idea against) and fit it into the left-right spectrum. It doesn't fit.

In general, the right seems to be in favor of economic freedom, while the left would restrict it. The left has a greater concern with personal freedoms, which the right would restrict. Those in the middle simply choose to restrict either economic or personal freedoms to suit their particular party's tastes. Freedom, whether economic or personal, can only be defended by a party that ignores the left-right descriptions and considers its job to be putting freedom first.

I have been labelled a right-winger when defending economic freedoms, and a left-winger when defending personal freedoms. In both cases, the people addressing me were correct. That alone should make it obvious that the left-right spectrum is useless in identifying those who would defend our freedoms.

Perhaps we need to look at political ideas and measure them against a different standard than left or right. And that standard is the only standard Freedom Party uses and the one that Frum and Timar used first: freedom.