Freedom is defined as the state of being free or at liberty rather than in confinement. It is the power to determine action without restraint and the exemption from external control, interference, and regulation. Americans, these days, commonly regard their society as the freest and the best in the world. Their understanding of freedom has been shaped and based upon the founding fathers’ belief that all people are equal and that the role of the government is to protect each person’s basic “inalienable” rights. The United States Constitution’s Bill of Rights assures individual rights including freedom of speech, press, and religion. America has changed dramatically from the country our founding fathers discovered. Some could even argue that
As one can see, personal freedom is an incredibly important part to our modern day society.
Timed Writing An American essayist, H.L. Mencken stated, “The average man does not want to be free. He simply wants be safe”. I disagree with this statement because an “average man” wants to live. In order to live you must have two necessities; freedom and safety. I believe neither is more important than one another because being free gives you the opportunity to a safe nation, and a safe nation allows you to be free. You cannot live a life without exploring and growing because that would not be considered living. On the other hand, you cannot expect to be free without safety around you.
Aidan Erbter Schuster Advanced Placement Language and Composition December 15, 2017 Freedom is overrated Imagine a world where laws and rules were never in place. Citizens would run rampant and people would commit crimes without any consequence for their actions. Now imagine a world where freedom was non-existent. Everyone's actions and behaviors would coincide with one another, as if they were robots. Straying from the extremes, H. L. Mencken an American writer wrote that the average man would rather be safe than free. To completely understand his statement, you must look at a specific word. The average man. H. L. Mencken is right because people would rather have laws to protect themselves, people want to live comfortable lives, and the people who diverge from what society tends to do are more than the average person.
From the earlier times in our lives till now, we humans have been struggling hard to be free and independent of the things that limit our right to be free. And even though some people say that having security in life can regulate our lives and messy societies, I believe that too much security or limitation causes more dilemmas. Also, by being independent and free, one can learn new things rather than just by sticking to some widely held beliefs. We can see many examples related to this assumption everywhere in our lives, movies, books, and history.
Freedom is known as a fundamental pillar of a democratic system of governance and is crucial for maintaining a peaceful society. Freedom holds a different rendition of meaning for each individual, but all versions share the commonality that freedom is when one’s rights are not hindered by an external force.
Japanese Internment: A Lesson from the Past America is one word that brings the hope of freedom to many people around the world. Since the United States’ humble beginnings freedom has remained at the core of its ideologies and philosophies. People of all races, nations, and tongues have found refuge in America. The National Anthem proclaims, “…land of the free, and home of the brave” (Key, 1814). But has America been consistently a land of the free? Unfortunately freedom has not always reigned. There is a constant struggle to overcome fear and prejudice in order to provide a true land of freedom. In times of heightened tension, the masses of common people seek to find a scapegoat. Often, this scapegoat is a minority
The Price of Freedom What is the price for FREEDOM? It's obvious that the price for freedom is not free but that it is rather large. After obtaining freedom, we look back and wonder was it worth it? Was freedom overpriced? In other words, did we sacrifice and pay too much to be free?
People in America have the freedom to do whatever they want, whenever they want. People fought so that we could decide how to live our own lives. Independence is also free. It requires us to take personal responsibility for our actions. Personal Independence has some good things about it, but it also has some challenges.
On July 4, 1776, an independent and fervent nation was born. Our Founding Fathers used an overwhelming sense of integrity and determination to fabricate the Declaration of Independence - a historical document that pleads King George III for independence and stresses the importance of freedom, equality, and natural rights. Though the Declaration of Independence signifies the birth of America and represents a powerful landmark in our history, when looked at from a broad spectrum, it can be seen as arrogant, ironic, and controversial. The Declaration states, “ … all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” (“The declaration”,
Freedom means living life as one wants, everything else is a form of slavery. If a person is not allowed to make his or hers decisions, if he or she is not free to live life as he/she wants than he/she doesn’t have power over his or her existence. If freedom was not essential for every human being than no one would have found so fiercely for it. If it was not important than today we would not be still fighting to keep and extend our freedom.
People of our new nation, there is a price for liberty and we must all pay that price so that we may win the war, and gain our freedom. This time of crisis will come to an end as we, the people, think of the freedom we will have after being fully in control of ourselves and abolishing the kings monarchy in our new nation.
George Washington said, “To be prepared for war, is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace” is the cost of freedom war, or are we only subject to ascertaining peace through proposed conflict? Having personally served in the United States Army, I feel that I have obtained a unique perspective amongst many other military personnel that many American citizens do not have. This perspective has shown me that the cost of freedom is not one, but many things. Freedom requires many things, such as sacrifice, bravery, physical currency, mental health, and life. We have a saying in the Army that I believe rings very true, “Freedom Isn’t Free”. I genuinely believe that war has produced many positive outcomes. However, I believe that, overall, it is holding us back from having greater potential.
Americans have continued to work hard every day to ensure we keep the freedoms we have fought so hard for. Fifteen states from the early America, that’s 56 signatures from many important people during that time, all agreed that we were born with “unalienable rights,” rights that no one could ever take away or deny. “All men are created equal,” they all have the same rights and power any other person has, and that’s because of the Declaration of Independence. Because of the rights the Declaration of Independence has given us, it is by far the most compelling to American citizens today because it continues to ensure that we are granted the rights of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Due to this we also hold the power to abolish any form of government that wishes to remove these rights, for when we know what freedom tastes like we will do anything to ensure we keep that freedom.
Our society highly emphasizes and values the freedom to pick and choose from our life choices, which is why we often want to keep all or as many of our options open. Having restrictions on freedom is also a restriction on making individual choices. We believe that the more choices we have, the more freedom we can obtain. A pro of having increasing choice in our current society is the ability to distinguish and select the better choices from the lesser options. However, having an abundant of choices will make the capability to make a decision much harder and the choice that we do eventually choose seems to be less desirable. According to Professor Lucas, an example of a situation that might be a good idea to limit our choices to enable