I'm doom-scrolling the news this morning and I hear former VP and present-day presidential candidate Mike Pence talking about "our freedoms." He claimed that if Biden and Harris weren't voted out of the White House next year and replaced by a Republican administration, it would mean the end of "our freedoms."

This confused me.  I associate the Biden-Harris administration with freedom much more than the Republicans.  Pence is enthusiastically and adamantly anti-abortion and has praised the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v Wade. That ruling took away a freedom Americans had enjoyed for several decades, making us literally less free than we were before. 

Some in the current Republican Party are taking things even further.  There are bans on pregnant women traveling out of states that have banned abortion to get the procedure elsewhere.  They've further criminalized assisting women seeking out-of-state abortions, making it illegal to transport them, to provide money, and even to give them basic information and advice on abortion providers. This is the opposite of liberty - this is not freedom.  

They've endorsed the banning of books they feel are contrary to their views, limiting our First Amendment freedom to read what we want and to share divergent opinions.  They're limiting the freedom of teachers to discuss slavery and the civil rights movement. They've even endorsed an alternative-reality history, claiming that slavery was actually beneficial to captured Africans, as it taught them many useful trades and skills for a "civilized" society.

And last but certainly not least, they continue to support Trump's demonstrably false claims over election fraud. They defend the fake electors sent to Washington to falsely certify the vote. They continue to limit access to the polling places. The State of Alabama has even gone so far as to defy the decidedly conservative Supreme Court and refuse to redraw their gerrymandered electoral district maps to give proportional representation to minorities. They're taking away our freedom to meaningfully participate in democracy.

So why does Pence say a Democratic administration would take away "our freedoms?" 

Then I remembered that Pence, a caucasian, was talking in "white speak." When he says "our," he's not including women.  He's not a woman (as far as we know), so why would he include them in the term "our?" He's not black either, and his "our" most assuredly does not include people of color. And his worldview has not progressed significantly beyond 1950s high-school social studies, so his "our" doesn't include intellectuals, historians, artists, and creatives.

No, when he says "our," he means white cis males. And "freedom" doesn't include reproductive rights, First-Amendment rights, or the right to vote.  It means for white cis males to do whatever they want, act however they wish, and treat others in any way that pleases them without consequence or retribution. Punch a queer, refuse service to black people, make your rape victim bear your child - that's what he means by "our freedoms."

And he's right - Biden and Harris will continue the fight against his twisted idea of "our rights."