“What then is freedom? The power to live as one wishes.”-Marcus Tullius Cicero is one of many views of freedom. The United States is the freest country, but some people don’t think it or overuse it. People always say what’s on their mind and say what they want whenever, they abuse the freedom of speech. Freedom of speech is being able to state your opinion not curse someone out and bully someone. I believe freedom is not being realized as what it really is….

So what exactly is freedom? “the quality or state of being free: as the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action”-Merriam-Webster dictionary. The dictionary to me is saying that everyone has the choice to be free and show it in actions. My own personal definition of being free is, doing as you please but at the same time, obeying the laws and having manners. For instance you get pulled over by a cop and he says you were driving too fast. You may be mad at him but you don’t have the freedom to single handedly kill him, so instead you talk to the officer and obey the rights you have been given. Freedom is being able to get up in the morning and smelling the fresh air, enjoying waking up in a nice home. It is about the life you live and how well you choose to live it. It’s about looking up to the men and women who serve the front lines and fight for our country to not be invaded. It’s about not being enslaved and being paid for what we do. The choice of picking your job. The ability of choosing your religion and what gender of people you like. No matter what you do you’re going to get criticized, but aren’t you doing what is not breaking the law and what you love? It is about waking up to see another day…

There are many beliefs to freedom and what it means, people are fully able to have their own opinion but will be criticized no matter what they say or do. An example of someone there is no freedom or rare freedom these days is stated here, “Forcing people to buy health insurance, and fining them if they don't.”-http://spease.hubpages.com/hub/What-is-Freedom-in-America. In this example it show show you don’t have the choice to pay for health care or not is a taking away of freedom. But, you also have people who believe that freedom is very well cherished by American people today, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that 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.”-Thomas Jefferson. This man is well into the names of possibly the greatest President we have ever had. In one article he had given us freedom from Britain. They had been taxing us and telling us what to to do, so we stood ground and fought back. Now we are America.

From day 1 America has had more freedom than any other country. We have had our hard times but are still very well in a path of success. Everyday millions of people get to wake up and have the choice to work, in some foreign countries slavement is still legal. Also, there are some countries where you are forced to join the military, here you get the right to chose. In one of the greatest war cry songs ever written it showed how proud of an American some people are. 1814 we were at war with Britain again, Francis Scott Key wrote “The Star Spangled Banner” and in the end it says, “O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!” If this song doesn't show freedom and waking up enjoying the ability to have chooses doesn't show freedom, then i don’t know what will.