What kind of freedom do we want?

I am committed to the pro-empathy freedom promised to everyone at birth.

What kind of freedom do we want?¹ I am committed to the pro-empathy freedom promised to everyone at birth. The freedom that must be taught to our youth is taught in the ideal, strong, diverse communities of nurturant parent families caring for each other. Our parents and grandparents of the United Nations defeated conservatism once during World War II, then passed liberty’s pro-empathy and mutual responsibility torch to us. Under the leadership of President Harry Truman,² a Democrat, and his chosen 1st UN Ambassador, Vermont former Senator Warren Austin,³ a Republican, America committed us to pro-empathy freedom. “Every individual and every organ of society” has a duty to human rights education with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).⁴

What kind of freedom do we want? I am committed to pro-empathy freedom secured by the human rights education of youth⁵ and adults⁶ envisioned in the UDHR. Empathy Surplus Network USA embraces the “progressive measures”⁷ outlined in the declaration. With our moral duty “constantly in mind,”⁸ our members stand up to conservatism’s perverse limitation of empathy and freedom to self-righteous white strict father family autocrats, leaving each person without an ally. Conservatism caused America’s wealth inequality through its systematic assault on empathy, the soul of democracy. Conservative human rights deniers undermine nurturant parent governance in all areas, leaving citizens to fend for themselves while billionaires steal our commonwealth.⁹ 

What kind of freedom do we want? I am committed to pro-empathy freedom secured through public media promoting human rights education. Yes, we can make “social progress for better standards of living” a reality. Yes, we can all expand our freedoms by protecting and empowering strong, diverse communities of nurturing families that have each other’s back. To secure pro-empathy freedom, we must constantly keep empathy and human rights in mind in ongoing conversations. Consider Four Empathy Activities found at www.empathysurplus.com focused on the letter “I” - because I (we) can’t care for others (each other) without self-empathy: 

1. Inward digestion of human rights education using the latest brain insights of George Lakoff,

2. Investment in human rights education,

3. Implement human rights education through partnerships, and

4. Invite others to do their human rights education duty.

1.  Lakoff, George, Whose Freedom? The Battle Over America’s Most Important Idea, Ch. 4, The Nation As Family Metaphor, p. 68, third paragraph.

2. American Foreign Relations, Human Rights - The UN Declaration of Human Rights and President Harry Truman, http://bit.ly/3XE2S7w

3.  MacNeil, Ronald, Warren Robinson Austin: A Reluctant Cold Warrior, A Theisis, http://bit.ly/3DzNwcf

4.  United Nations, 10 December 1948, Paris, France, https://bit.ly/IUDHRbk

5. Empathy Surplus Network USA (ESNU), Human Rights Youth Education, https://empathysurplus.com

6. IBID., ESNU, Human Rights Adult Education, https://empathysurplus.com/human-rights-adult-education

7.  IBID., UN UDHR Preamble Proclamation

8.  IBID., UN UDHR Articles 1, 2, 29 & 30

9.  IBID., Lakoff, p. 68, third paragraph.