On Jan. 20, 2021, this writer was sure about two things: Donald Trump had left us with a safer, freer world, and many would soon come to regret his departure from the White House.
It appears the events of the last year have proven me as being correct.
Europe stands on the brink of war; the West is at the weakest moral, political, and economic point since 1945; and individual rights have been infringed at a frightening level.
Freedom will be a recurring theme of this column. Freedom has received the toughest blows during the pandemic, and it will take hard work and political as well as societal will to restore it where it ought to be.
Additionally, we need to go beyond simply bringing freedom back.
All our societies — especially in the West — must ensure that our rights and freedoms are never again soiled and restricted as they have been during in the past two-plus years.
Will there be enough bottom-up pressure to achieve this?
While it seems difficult, it's not impossible.
In November of 2020, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito wrote that the pandemic had brought "unimaginable restrictions" on freedoms. That was before the mandates that would come in the following year. Tyrannies of varying levels were unleashed in all so-called democracies.
Bureaucrats, unelected government officials and politicians locked-down entire countries for months, told their citizens when they could go out, who they could meet and what was allowed to be written on private social media accounts.
Governments went even further when they gave themselves the right to determine who was considered an essential employee and who could be fired.
The culmination of this tragic saga was reached as heads of governments were allowed to decide who could be a part of society and who did not deserve such a status — in one of the most shameful and abhorring acts of the last 70 years.
Under cover of crisis, all heads of government and state took on more power than any of their predecessors in the post-war period. All but one.
The one they called a tyrant, a fascist — and an authoritarian, turned out to be the most democratic of them. U.S. President Donald John Trump delegated authority to the states, supported countless people protesting for freedom and their rights; and lifted the lockdowns far ahead of his counterparts in other countries.
All of this served to prevent the American economy from going over a cliff, which is the fate more likely to transpire under the current administration in th White House.
Coming from a communist country, I'm well aware of how precious freedom is — and how easily it is lost or given away.
The West frequently forgets this because it takes freedom for granted.
Western citizens do not appreciate the concept of liberty and human rights or dignity because they have never lived without them. Repressed nations, on the other hand, have always turned gazes towards the U.S. where matters of freedom were concerned, seeking to implement what's made America great — in their own countries.
President Trump seemed conscious of all this. He restored his country to the beacon of freedom and prosperity it used to be under President Ronald Reagan. Trump rose as a powerful shield of the common people against the herd mentality and monopoly of speech.
Those who opposed him, both stateside and in Europe, turned out to be the real tyrants.
After he left office, the U.S. government joined others in Europe, Canada, Australia, China and New Zealand in trying to control the lives of their citizens.
While freedom protests took place in several countries for a considerable period, there was a purposeful lack of coverage from the media and a repressive reaction from the democracies of the West.
This showed that President Trump had been the only ally of freedom and human rights, serving as a powerful advocate on the global stage, and using the enormous influence of the U.S. to actually further liberty's cause. The U.S. remains — for now at least — a leading superpower and whatever winds flow there, eventually find their way into Europe and elsewhere.
Yet, the truckers' protests in Canada, unfortunately with no political allies in the Canadian and other governments, showed that eventually the voice of those fighting for basic freedoms will find their way across the distracting cacophony of the media and the authoritarian instincts of democratically elected leaders. We have to acknowledge, though, that the path toward the full restoration of human dignity and rights will be a long and arduous one.
The same could be said for security — closely intertwined with freedom.
It's a fact that today the world is less safe than it was a year ago. The Left, in every shape or form it takes, constantly promises more security if only we were to give up on our freedoms. This is wholly fallacious.
During the pandemic, it became clear, when health experts changed their guidelines and mandates — often and in a contradictory way (moving the goalposts) — they generated confusion, while inceasing the skepticism of many.
Thus, is it wise, is it justifiable, is it smart to continue giving up our hard-earned liberties in exchange for an unguaranteed security, promised by those who, in the best case, are as clueless as the rest of us.
It can be argued that individual rights infringements have been wholly unjustified.
Even in this regard, President Trump reminded us that we do not need to fall for the phony either-or freedom-security choice. We can have both, without having to renounce either.
The 45th commander in chief secured both his people's freedoms and security, without forcing them to give up anything.
With the implementation of supply-side economic policies, he managed to increase the well-being of his citizens and push up the degree of independence from government. With that came a bigger ability to protect and strengthen individual rights and human dignity.
Trump believed — as we all should — that individuals and families can decide on what is best for them by them, by providing them with the facts from the real science, not contradictory, politically motivated expert decisions.
On the other hand, the principled realism doctrine that he presented to the United Nations in his first year as president ended up being a success. America, by way of the peace through strength concept, managed to keep Russia at bay, restrained Iranian nuclear ambitions, stopped North Korea's aggressions, and managed to create a western front against expansion by China.
Under Trump, America was truly back, not as a global policeman, but as a guarantor of freedom, security, and democracy — globally.
Now, sensing weakness in the West, achieved by a decline in moral and cultural values, abandonment of free market principles and weak appeasement policies, Russia, China and Iran are emboldened. The Afghanistan debacle proved that the current American government has the will to abandon allies and even leave its own citizens behind in enemy hands.
Europe is self-destructing increaingly, daily, due to its intentional economic "zombification," and the central planning approach it follows. The Old Continent has left itself exposed, dependent on the gas coming from Russia and unprotected from the Chinese dragon who was welcomed into European shores with open arms not so many years ago.
NATO is not unified and seems in crisis.
None of the current Western heads of government seem capable to finding a solution out of this mess that they themselves have created. After all, these issues do not require politicians, but leaders, who would coalesce around common values and principles and show a united front, one that does not back down when facing bullies.
The solution would be a reinvigorated Western front, one standing on two strong pillars — America and Europe!
Yet, how can these countries and leaders unite — like they successfully did in the 1980s under President Reagan, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and Pope John Paul II — in the name of freedom, democracy, and common security interests when they have repressed and restricted the freedoms of their own citizens? How can they call out Russia or China for the infringement of human rights, when they have done the same during the past two-plus years?
Is there any moral credo to unite in defense of Western values when progressive and Left-wing forces have backed organizations that want to cancel culture, erase traditions and rewrite history?
Can we even speak of a united front, when Germany is supplied with Russian gas and aims to remain neutral in the conflict, many European politicians want closer relations with Russia and China while the Bear and the Dragon seek to form an alliance against the West?
Who will benefit more from a conflict in Ukraine?
Is it Russia, or those western governments too eager to distract their voters from domestic problems? Whatever the answer, Russia feels it can provoke and compromise Ukraine's territorial integrity because it has become apparent that the costs for doing so are tolerable and the benefits much higher. This is a gift that the West has given to the Russian bear.
Freedom and security go hand in hand with patriotism, free market capitalism, and respect for tradition, cultural norms, and history. Now, security is suffering because of an open self-caused war against these principles. President Trump reminded all our nations of these — yet within a one year period we seem to have forgotten.
We dealt a terrible blow to freedom and our own customs, history and traditions. Unless our societies revert to these core values, the West will become an irrelevance in the annals of history, gifting the new world order in the hands of those who stand opposed to democracy and freedom.
Nikola Kedhi is a Senior Financial Adviser at Deloitte, one of the Big 4 consultancy firms, and a contributor to several media outlets in the US and Europe, including The European Conservative, The American Conservative, the American Mind, The Federalist, CapX, the Mises Institute, il Giornale, and others. Following several years in the consulting and media indUStries, he has gained considerable expertise in economic, financial and political matters. Kedhi is also an alumnUS of Bocconi University. His articles reflect solely his own views. Read Reports by Nikola Kedhi — More Here.
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