The pursuit of personal freedom has meant the trashing of tradition and a consequent all-consuming present Autonomy on the Road to Tyranny Richard M. Reinsch II T radition is how a people shapes its destiny in a fallen world. But talking about tradition is strange in a country composed of citizens who left-or whose ancestors escaped-nations whose traditions kept them from being all they could be. The fullest part of our tradition might be emancipation itself. This made America a country capable of being the vehicle for a providential democratic progress toward individual equality. But equality is both easy and dangerous for its tendency to attenuate the distinctiveness of particular persons. In contrast, it is liberty that needs an apprenticeship and a defense by more thoughtful denizens. We live in abundance amid unheralded opportunities for most Americans. But things that should be solid seem to teeter uncomRichard M. Reinsch II is editor of the Law and Liberty website and the host of Liberty Law Talk. 104 modernagejournal.comhttp://www.modernagejournal.com