What Is an American Citizen?

"What is an American Citizen?"

By definition, an American Citizen is a person owing loyalty to and entitled by birth or naturalization the protection of the United States. American Citizens are entitled to vote and enjoy many rights and privileges of the United States (1-p.263).

When I think of what it means to be an American Citizen, I think of freedom. America is known as the land of opportunity for its freedom. Freedom is defined as the absence of restraints (2-p.552). America is ruled by a democracy type of government, giving the citizens the right to vote. This allows the citizens to make choices on the ruling and the types of laws in their country. The government is made up of representatives from each state. Each state votes on who should represent their state and what laws they should be entitled to follow. America has many laws that must be followed, but this is to keep the county in order to allow the freedom that America offers.

As an American citizen you have the right to do basically what you choose to do. It begins with the freedom of choice. Americans can choose where they want to live, who they want to marry, they can choose if they want to have children, they can choose what type of education and career they want . As an American you have access to any type of education you need, with the government offering help to pay for it. Americans also have religious freedom. It is very important to be able to choose which type of religion you want to follow or if you want to follow one at all. The government leaves it up to you to make your own choices, whether they will be the right or wrong ones. If an American makes an unjust choice that disobeys any of the laws, they will be punished as necessary.

I think that Americans have a very nice type of life style. I think that many Americans do not realize exactly how good our lives are. There are many countries that do not allow the ability to choose any of these things. These countries do not allow residents any say in the government, they just make the laws and residents are required to follow them. Many countries decide where you should live and who you should live with. Other countries choose if you can have children, if you should be educated and what type of religion you will follow. Besides the countries that make these choices for you, there are also the countries that are so poor