Freedom – what a wonderful thing.

The freedom to express one’s thoughts and views without the fear of being prosecuted can’t be matched in any other country.

I was in New York City Thursday for the Republican National Convention, where views from every spectrum were displayed both on and off the street.

While President Bush was speaking inside a packed Madison Square Garden, there were crowds of protesters lining the streets with colorful homemade signs, spurting out anti-Bush remarks.

In his speech accepting the Republican presidential nomination, Bush said, “We are staying on the offensive – striking terrorists abroad – so we do not have to face them here at home.”

Protester David Hylander of Vermont said Bush was the terrorist responsible for the attacks on Sept. 11 as he held a sign with Bush’s face depicted as Osama bin Laden that read, “Wanted for terror and murder.”

“The US government, our government, was behind (Sept. 11),” Hylander said. “They are engaged in treason and mass murder … and there is a total cover up that the corporate mass media will not touch at all.”

Both ideas are different, but both are accepted.

Bush spoke and was greeted with chants of “Four More Years!” He was applauded after almost every sentence by those inside Madison Square Garden.

Protesters booed as Bush came on the large screen outside of Times Square and jeered at anyone who walked down the blocked off street.

Both ideas are different, but both are accepted.

While California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was preparing to meet the media and public outside Planet Hollywood, there were more protesters outside the rubble of the World Trade Center buildings at ground zero criticizing Bush for the events of Sept. 11.

Schwarzenegger spoke in support of Bush at the convention just a few days earlier but people outside ground zero said the attacks were covered up by a Bush led government.

Both ideas are different, but both are accepted.

While at one street corner there was a woman selling John Kerry flip flop shoes (because of his tendency to flip-flop on his views), there was a man at another street corner selling stickers with a picture of Bush saying, “I am the worstest president in American history.”

Both ideas are different, but both are accepted.

All of the sights and sounds varied. Some people despised the president. Some people loved him. Some people just weren’t sure.

No matter the view, I did not see one person get hassled by the New York Police Department for what he or she had to say.

John Diorio, a 10-year veteran with the NYPD stood with about a dozen other officers outside ground zero with riot gear in case the protests got out of hand.

“We are pretty much here to make sure that it doesn’t get out of hand and no citizens just walking down the street don’t have to get involved if (the protesters) decide to be violent,” Diorio said.

“With freedom of speech they have the right to protest and say whatever they like as long as that’s what it stays to.”

That freedom is what made my 14-hour drive so unforgettable, and why I am so lucky to be living in this country. I had the freedom to hop in my roommate’s blue Taurus to make the trip. I had the freedom to walk the streets with any opinion I had. I just plain had freedom.

Freedom – what a wonderful thing.