Today Americans often use the words liberty and freedom interchangeably. But historian David Hackett Fischer, in his work “Liberty and Freedom,” draws a crucial distinction. The word liberty, rooted in the classical Latin tradition, implies release from bondage and the ability to act without interference.
Freedom, by contrast, comes from the Germanic Freiheit, a root also to the word friend. Freedom conveys a sense of full membership in a community — having the rights, protections and responsibilities of citizenship. Freedom is also about living together under the rule of law: When all abide its confines, all live in safety and freedom. This meaning is echoed in Revolutionary-era phrases like “the rights of free-born Englishmen,” which emphasize that belonging and freedom are about shared civic life.
The men and women in uniform — whose shortened lives and ultimate sacrifice we celebrated on Memorial Day — gave their all that we might live together under the rule of law, with mutual commitment to our common good and devotion to the deepest meaning of the word freedom. They safeguarded our shared constitutional order, and we must too. This will take some work.
The Korean War Memorial in Washington, D.C., bears the inscription: “Freedom is not free.” It is a reminder that the protection of rights comes at great cost. It also points to the truth that freedom is not only secured on distant battlefields. Freedom is something we all sustain, every day, through our actions as citizens. In a constitutional republic, freedom depends on strong civic bonds, mutual responsibility and a commitment to one another.
This teaching became real to me while I was working for the Society of the Cincinnati. I became friends with a Vietnam veteran who had served as a helicopter pilot. During a resupply mission near Huế in support of Operation Prairie, the lead helicopter was shot down over dense jungle. Under heavy fire, my friend rescued the downed crew without landing his helicopter and was later awarded several distinguished medals.
Yet he once told me, “I’d give them all back if I could have saved one more soldier.” His words reflect a deeper truth: that freedom is not just about individual rights, but about the bonds we share. This kind of freedom lives in loyalty, sacrifice and a commitment to one another.
For many Americans, World War II was the last war without moral ambiguity. Since then, conflicts in countries like Vietnam, Korea, Iraq and Afghanistan have sparked deep political debate over purpose, cost and justification.
But honoring the fallen doesn’t require agreement on war’s politics. It does, however, evoke a commitment to the idea of freedom as both rights and responsibilities rooted in strong, shared communities.
Now that Memorial Day has passed, let’s honor the legacy of those who died in service by embracing freedom as a shared responsibility. Let’s strengthen the kind of connected communities the fallen gave their lives to protect, where every ordinary American has a stake in our shared civic life.