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Freedom In America

Decent Essays

The United States of America was founded on the principles of "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness"; all three of these still hold true today, however, "liberty," or freedom, has come to mean something entirely different to most of society. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, freedom is defined as "the power, rooted in reason and will,...to perform deliberate actions on one's own responsibility" (CCC, 1731). All humans, made in the image and likeness of God, intrinsically possess the ability to make choices. This freedom makes everyone responsible for his or her own choices, whether they be good or bad, and grants the greatest ability of all: the ability to love (Pennock 119). Freedom can be defined in terms of internal freedom or external freedom, with specific attention to what limits, or impedes, freedom. Since freedom is a central element of the American ideology, much of the culture, specifically media, often features concepts relating to it. …show more content…

This type of freedom "includes freedom from factors outside ourselves that threaten or destroy our power to exercise choice" (Pennock 120), and while her song undoubtedly expresses freedom from outside factors, such as tyranny, it does endorse the concept of freedom as license. License refers to "unbridled, excessive, undisciplined freedom" which detracts from true freedom because it leads to sinfulness and evil (Pennock 122). With phrases such as "doing whatever we want" and "this is our house / this is our rules," the singer believes she can make her own rules and her freedom is truly unlimited. She also describes her "party" where her and her friends "can do what they want to" which emphasizes her privilege as a wealthy celebrity with the financial means to make any decision she desires. However, external freedom is just one part of making

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