“In America, you have the right to be stupid if you want to be, and you have a right to be disconnected to somebody else if you want to be.”

The words echoed from the podium of the newly-minted Secretary of State John Kerry during a discussion with students in Germany; just one part of a long nine-day stint in Europe, his first overseas trip as America’s top diplomat.

Taken out of context, Kerry’s statement might be considered offensive, but he has a good point. After all, I was taught that America is the land of opportunity, where anyone could become anything they could dream to be.

Really, Kerry was saying how we, as an American society, have rights that we embrace ... and my God, do we embrace them. He said how Americans “live and breathe the idea of religious freedom and religious tolerance, and political freedom and political tolerance, whatever the point view.”