During the War of 1812, Dr. William Beanes, a friend of Francis Scott Key, was taken prisoner by the British. According to History.com, Key traveled to Baltimore, located the ship where Beanes was held, and, despite a negotiated release, the two men were not allowed to leave until after the British bombardment of Fort McHenry.

Key watched the bombardment from aboard a ship. After a full day and evening of fighting, the British were unable to destroy the fort and gave up. Key was relieved to see the American flag still flying over Fort McHenry at “dawn’s early light.” He quickly penned the lines to a poem, “The Defense of Fort McHenry.” The poem was printed in newspapers and later set to music, becoming a fixture at official events at the request of President Woodrow Wilson. The song was adopted as the national anthem on March 3, 1931.

An often-quoted line of the song is “the land of the free.” American freedoms are defined and enumerated in the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. These freedoms are to be valued and defended. Is America today still the land of the free?

President Ronald Reagan said, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”

Overruled by Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch and Janie Nitze explores the loss of freedom because of excessive regulations. Gorsuch and Nitze recognize that some law is essential to our lives and freedoms. However, they also acknowledge that too much law can place those freedoms at risk and even undermine respect for the law itself. With every piece of enacted legislation, citizens lose economic, social, and personal freedoms, a loss most acutely felt by those without wealth, power, or status.

To demonstrate the loss of economic freedom, look no further than the 2024 Index of Economic Freedom, published annually by the Heritage Foundation, which ranks countries from “free” to “repressed.” The U.S. barely earned the “mostly free” category. The U.S. score has declined steadily to 70.1, ranking 25th, while Singapore ranked first with a score of 83.5.

The U.S. scored slightly higher than Singapore in protecting property rights and judicial effectiveness. However, the U.S. ranked low in government integrity, tax burden, and government spending, which significantly impacted its standing. Singapore, Switzerland, Ireland, and Taiwan scored in the top four “free” countries.

Let’s examine the three areas where the U.S. ranked low enough to barely qualify as “mostly free”:

Let’s examine where the U.S. struggled:

• Government Integrity: A government whose agencies have demonstrated a willingness to deceive American citizens will not score well on integrity.
• Tax Burden: A government that takes from the productive to give to the unproductive leads to lower productivity, economic stagnation, and declining prosperity.
• Government Spending: A government that refuses to balance its budget, choosing instead to spend and print trillions of dollars, is not fiscally sound.

Excessive government interference in economic activity harms society as a whole. Justice Gorsuch, in Overruled, warned that when every aspect of our lives is regulated and controlled by government, our freedoms are threatened by criminal prosecution if we do not comply with every dictate. The Index of Economic Freedom illustrates what the loss of economic freedom means.

On July 4, 2024, Emily Ekins wrote in her article, “New Poll: 74 percent Worry Americans Could Lose Our Freedoms If We’re Not Careful,” that a recent survey by the Cato Institute found 76 percent of Americans have a favorable opinion of the founding of the United States. About three-fourths of Americans worry that if we’re not careful, we could lose the freedoms we have in this country. “A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take away everything you have.” This anonymous quote is profound and thought-provoking.

Is America still considered the land of the free?