Is American freedom just an old ideal?

Lee has a post called Fast Food Fascists which talks about how KFC is being sued by the The Center for Science in the Public Interest (ugh, just the name gives me chills) because the food is unhealthy.

Okay...so many emotions...I'm trying to avoid rant mode.

As a young lad growing up in America, I had always heard that one of the great things about America was that it was a free country. I was taught that freedom was so valuable, that it was something many countries did not have, and that we should thank God everyday that we live in a free country. Yes, I was taught that America was a great country because we loved God, but also, because we were free.

Now, I don't know what the deal is with these Public Interest people. Maybe they didn't grow up with the idea that freedom is so valuable. Maybe the particular government school they went to did not harp on the value of liberty and the Bill of Rights and other such things.

Or maybe they saw how ugly freedom was, and they decided they did not like it.

Yes, my friends, freedom can be pretty ugly. Now, as a conservative with libertarian tendencies, or vice versa, I'm always trying to figure out in my mind where the balance of freedom is, verses government enforcement of moral standards.

Freedom can be a terrible, ugly thing. It means that people can sleep around with complete strangers; it means that we can be a couch potato all day eating junk food, say hateful things, become an alcoholic, sell or eat fried chicken...you get the point.

But freedom can be a beautiful thing as well. I don't want to get too much in the issues of morality and law, but I have heard many limited government Christians say that freedom of choice is a prerequisite for virtue. Freedom means getting up off the couch and taking care of your body because you want to, not because there is some government bureaucrat taxing or regulating your every move. Freedom means being able to buy fried chicken because you have five kids to feed after working a 12 hour day and not having a lot of money in the bank. Freedom means being able to start a fast food fried chicken chain (say that 5 times fast), send your kids to college off the profits, and providing jobs for thousands of acne-faced teenagers across the country, without having to lobby to justify the chicken chain's existence.

I could go on and on about freedom, but for most of you I don't have to. Some may see the KFC issue as no big deal, but freedom is composed of the ability to make everyday choices.