Throughout history, the most important part of America was freedom to the individual. The declaration of independence also stresses that people have important rights that the government and or other people couldn't take away from them, such as right to privacy, freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of religion, freedom to own a gun, etc. Overall conflicts with other countries and mixed opinions in our country have caused some rights to occasionally go astray. Overall I think we are not moving closer nor further.
