Am I Free?

In a democracy like America, we are given certain freedoms. Sometimes I believe that those liberties are the very things that restrain us. Marketing, for example, developed due to our capitalist society. Advertisements are not selling the product, they are selling an intangible idea that we all believe we need and cannot find within ourselves. For instance, Nike sold millions selling the idea of transcendence beyond sport. Saturn sells the belief of community, being a part of a group, being accepted. This freedom to advertise...has it lead to a restraint on the individual? Are we being told what we need? If not, then why are we buying into the useless material items that are far from basic necessity?

In America, we are not only buying product, we are buying governance. We are given a select group of politicians to choose from. Political marketing begins years before election. These ads are nothing more than an artful construction of lies. We are not being told the truth. We are being told what we want to hear, the ideas we want to believe in.

Democracy leads us to believe that the consumer is in control. Are we? We need to believe in ourselves in order to understand that a product is just a product and the true fulfillment of personal yearnings is unattainable within those material goods. Do we have enough identity within ourselves to truly be free from persuasion?