If a jerk burns the flag America is not threatened democracy is not under siege freedom is not at risk.

When I went off to the army when I was 17 years old I believed in America and the rights of freedom. But today I believe my government is lying to the American people and that my president George Bush is a criminal.

My father described this tall lady who stands in the middle of the New York harbor holding high a torch to welcome people seeking freedom in America. I instantly fell in love.

America has never seen itself as a national state like all others but rather as an experiment in human freedom and democracy.

Latinos have fought in all of America's wars beginning with the Revolutionary War. Many Latinos are fighting and dying for our country today in Iraq just as several of their ancestors fought for freedom in Mexico over a century ago.

I have always been a firm believer in the longstanding American principle of having the right to bear arms and I will remain committed to see that this freedom is not infringed upon revoked or limited in any way.

It could be my British need for discipline that makes me admire the American appetite for freedom and passion.

American movies and music deliver themes of freedom innocence and power that appeal to others - partly because America itself was put together out of a multiplicity of national traditions.

They were singing in French but the melody was freedom and any American could understand that.

All my life Americans have been accustomed to thinking of theirs as 'the richest freest' country in the world. By most measurements it was long a contender for that honor and - among the larger countries if equal weight were given to wealth and indices of freedom - probably did deserve to be so described.

That's part of American greatness is discrimination. Yes sir. Inequality I think breeds freedom and gives a man opportunity.

All Americans and freedom-loving people around the world owe President Reagan our deepest gratitude for his strong principled leadership that ended the Cold War and brought freedom to millions of people.

It is hard to know how many people do but given that the people are so docile towards the rulers nowadays very few Americans show the passion for freedom that our forefathers had.

I do believe that freedom isn't free - but today the corporate and political right wing is trying to cheapen this truly American value. They've been cynically using the word 'freedom' to rally the American public against its own best interests.

Every American deserves to live in freedom to have his or her privacy respected and a chance to go as far as their ability and effort will take them - regardless of race gender ethnicity or economic circumstances.

Native Americans are the original inhabitants of the land that now constitutes the United States. They have helped develop the fundamental principles of freedom of speech and separation of powers that form the foundation of the United States Government.

In America it's live by the sword of freedom of expression and be will to die by it as well.

I wish we would all remember that being American is not just about the freedom we have it is about those who gave it to us.

Freedom of religion is a principle that is central to our Nation's Declaration of Independence. Congress has taken this positive step to protect our freedom to express allegiance to America's flag and the ideals it represents.

What does it mean to be an American? While each of us may have our own specific answer to that question we likely can agree on the basic principles of America: freedom equal opportunity and rights accompanied by responsibilities.

The American idea is as promising imaginative and full of the unexpected as the land itself. The land represents freedom - the frontier the ability to make a new future with your own bare hands.

I suppose there's a melancholy tone at the back of the American mind a sense of something lost. And it's the lost world of Thomas Jefferson. It is the lost sense of innocence that we could live with a very minimal state with a vast sense of space in which to work out freedom.

As a boy I believed freedom for America meant freedom for me. There was a time I believed every word spoken.

They know the importance of their mission and of America's commitment to combating and defeating terrorism abroad and they know that they are making a real difference in bringing freedom to a part of the world that has known only tyranny.