| Background:
The concept of freedom is one that people have craved, struggled and died for since the beginning of time. It seems as though people around the world have always sought freedom, whether it was in the form of economic, social, religious, personal or political freedoms. Nobel Prize winner, Dr. Milton Friedman, is quick to point out that "five
thousand years of man's recorded history have been written in tyranny and misery.
This means that it has been accepted as normal for personal freedoms to be restricted and scarce. Less than one percent of the people who have lived on this planet have known the concept of personal freedom" (Corn 1). Even as far back as the Greek and Roman Empires, governments based on freedom were attempted, but most were significantly flawed. Only 20% of the people were allowed freedoms under the Republic - the other 80% were slaves (Corn)
The United States is an example of a country that was founded on the concept of freedom. Its Constitution contains a Bill of Rights that guarantees the citizens of the U.S. personal freedoms of press, religion, speech and peaceful assembly. The Bill of Rights asserts that government should not be able to restrict personal freedoms of any person, regardless of sex, ethnicity, age or class.
American civil rights activist, Dr. Martin Luther King, was one of the most influential speakers and promoters for freedom in the twentieth century. In his famous "I Have a Dream" speech, Dr. Martin Luther King used the words "free" or "freedom" 23 times! Freedom seems to be at the core of the foundation and future of the United States.
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