A few years ago I met some Irish college students who had come to the States to work for the summer. We were all living at Hampton Beach in New Hampshire, a popular working-class beach town. The cottage rentals are reasonable and there's a lot to do for all ages. It's a busy, cheerful resort town of sun and sand and shops and seafood.

There were a lot of Irish students at Hampton Beach that summer, living in spartan rooms and working in the motels, restaurants and shops. And they were a jolly bunch, always cheerful, always wanting to cheer up everybody else, talking and joking throughout their work days.

They also liked to meet at night for beer and chat, and they were astounded to discover they couldn't be served beer because they were under age.

"We always heard America is the land of the free", some of them complained to me.  "Then you have these laws and police all over the place and the bartenders afraid to serve us".

I thought it was funny that they thought freedom meant free to drink beer.

Granted, they told me that in Ireland there really isn't an age to be served in the pub. If you look old enough to hold your drink the bartender will serve you.

However it really is in Ireland, the fact is that the Irish kids were disappointed in their lack of freedom in America.

I didn't even try to explain what freedom is in our country. I didn't think they'd understand.

Our founding fathers had their roots in England. They knew what it was to be a subject of the King's. The King was the ultimate ruler of the country. He decided what taxes the people would pay the Crown and what religion would be allowed in the country. The Royal Family held the land and 'allowed' their subjects to farm or be merchants for a price. Everything had a price.

Besides that, there is the class system in England and all of Europe. It is hundreds of years old and accepted by Europeans. It is the system that says if your father works in a factory, so you will work in a factory; if your father has a butcher's shop, so you shall follow and some day inherit that shop.

You can move sideways sometimes, from the son of a mechanic to being a teacher, or son of a farmer to becoming a house painter, but you'll never make it above your station. You will not be accepted and don't even try.

In America, a person can rise way above her parents. Mom might have been a housewife, but her daughter can become editor of a magazine.

We see traces of the Old Country here in America, on the " Jones and Son" sign or in the family where one son became a carpenter, one a plumber, one an electrician, so they could send business to eachother.

Our freedom is the freedom to achieve. Our government is of the people, not by the grace of the King. In fact our Constitution forbids and Royal titles to be conferred by our government.

In the Old Country, the most a father could hope for was to have his son follow in his footsteps. In America, a father hopes his son will surpass him.

What we must be wary of is our government, our politicians, taking away our freedom. The founding Fathers knew this might happen, and they cautioned the citizenry to be vigilant against it.

How often do we hear it said of the Kennedy family: they are American Royalty. And ask anyone who lives and works in D.C. and they'll tell you how our elected 'lawmakers' consider themselves royalty in that city.

It is difficult for people to understand, but the more our government seems to do for us, the more freedom we lose. As the government gives, so the government takes away.

In most of the world, the government is still like the King, ruling the people at will.

Just recently in China they celebrated 60 years of Communist rule. There was a 2 hour military parade in celebration, attended by invited guests of the ruling class. Everyone else in the city of millions was told to stay at home and watch it on TV. And they did. The streets were deserted! The Chinese did as they were ordered to do, without question.

Did they stay at home because they truly wanted to watch a parade of military troops and weapons on TV, or did they stay at home because they were afraid of the consequences if they were caught on the street?

Such a thing cannot happen in America. Our government cannot order us to stay at home. They can forbid us to enter a city, as they did after 9/11, but that was an unusual time and done for the sake of rescue and recover without throngs of sightseers, not in order to put on a parade.

Consider how we, as Americans, take it for granted that we can live anywhere we can afford. Peoploe move from one neighborhood to another, from one town to another, from one state to another, at will.

That's not so in most of the world. In some countries you are assigned a house or apartment and that's where you spend your life. In other countries there isn't much real estate available and there's a waiting list for what there is. When your name comes up you're grateful and jump at the apartment, no matter where it is. You'll stay there for the rest of your life.

It's the same with jobs. Most people in the rest of the world work in the same place all their working lives. There are rules and regulations they have to follow for employment and moving from one job to another isn't allowed.

We as Americans don't realize what it is to be subjects of the State, and in the same way neither do people who are Subjects understand our freedom. Americans are independent people and are not restrained by custom or class. A good example of that is that in almost all of Europe all of the houses have red roofs. It makes for pretty pictures of a town, but you'd never find such a thing in America. We don't want to be part of a pack or follow an ancient custom.

The worst thing an American can say is, "The government ought to do something about that".

No, we don't want the government making any more laws than are absolutely necessary. We should solve our own problems. It might seem easier to depend on the government, but easier is not always better. It's easier to duct tape a broken chair, but isn't it better to fix it right?

Remember who you speak of when you think 'government'. It's someone sitting at a desk waiting for lunchtime or quitting time, making decisions about you in a very routine way. 'This box isn't filled in. Rejected'.

The best government is a small one of limited authority. That is what the founding fathers believed from experience. They founded a free nation and wanted us to remain free. Free to be the best we can, to achieve our dreams. That is our freedom.