Slavery and the American extremist idea of liberty

Comment published on New York Times blog, in response to essay in Times Magazine by Nikole Hannah-Jones, “Our democracy’s founding ideals were false when they were written. lack mericans have fought to make them true,” August 14, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/black-history-american-democracy.html#permid=sContainer&permid=101994939:101994939:

Americans rarely consider that our ideas of freedom historically were closely tied to forms of subjection that a guilty white majority would fear. This is related to the fact that our popular ideas of liberty are relatively extreme.

The American people are not noticeably more free than, say, the French or the Swedes. But we want to be and think we are. You can even see in how people stand and hold themselves, that this is a land of every man for himself, or don't tread on me. The extreme right, increasingly associated with mass violence, is nourished by such sentiments.

The idea of 17th century metaphysics also play a role, as we seem to think that influence is violence. Powers must be limited, creating liberties and rights in those not under sway. Sometimes odd attempts at combatting harassments, insults to identity, and "unsafe" feelings result for "progressives," while right-wing liberals fear the administrative state enforcing morals.

The liberty ideology has roots older than slavery in originally aristocratic efforts to limit central state powers. But slavery created a background context for hysterical assertions of liberty. Democracy, which for Jefferson meant each man a small owner/boss, could mean no one rules anyone, or all rule us.

Slavery meant a class of workers with no property or freedom (though slaves like prisoners and animals can have rights). So, denying a republic's common things, we are mostly an immature people who fight instead of argue.