Abstract
In the book Whose Freedom? The Battle over America s Most Important Idea, linguist and cognitive scientist George Lakoff argues that the conservatives in the United States are redefining freedom to mean their version of the term and that the result of this process is a reversal of actual freedom in America. With Whose Freedom as a starting point, this thesis explores the concept of freedom in America.
Through his powerful position, the President has the opportunity to communicate his interpretation of reality and his versions of significant ideals and values to the American people. The thesis examines how the Bush administration uses the term freedom as part of its political agenda. A selection of George W. Bush s speeches is analyzed in order to explore this question. The analysis examines how President Bush uses freedom as a part of the administration s ideological foreign policy agenda and discusses the versions of the term the President promotes in the area of domestic policy. The thesis also explores the Bush administration s attitude towards personal freedom.
A pervasive feature of the thesis is the importance of ideas and language. In this connection, the thesis examines how the conservatives in the United States have used populism and agenda control in order to dominate political debates and define political ideas.