“As European countries ponder bans on burqas and headscarves, legislators and pundits on both sides of the Atlantic have tried to justify such laws with the language of liberty. A Spanish politician, for example, denounced the veil as a ‘degrading prison.’ He was not referring merely to families that force women to cover themselves. In that case, the legislation would target the compulsion, not the clothes. The garments supposedly serve as prisons whether or not the wearer wants to don them. Removing them by force, it’s implied, would be an act of liberation. It isn’t the first time we’ve heard this notion that the exercise of liberty is really an impediment to freedom. It’s an idea with a long history in the United States as well as in Europe; it has emerged in debates over rights ranging from the freedom to drink to the freedom to follow the faith of your choice. The belief has many roots, but in the American context the most important source might be the antebellum reform era.” (07/29/10)