Since Sept. 11, 2001, we’ve been told the war on terror is a new kind of war that requires a different military approach, and possibly the abrogation of some civil liberties, to win. Rest assured, however, that the good folks at Burger King are working tirelessly to safeguard the most important of American freedoms.

“You have the right to a tasty meal,” declares the Burger King Bill of Rights, part of the franchise’s new Angus ad campaign. “You have the right to a burger made with 100 percent beef.”

It’s difficult to tell if the BK Bill of Rights’ tone is more Ernesto Miranda or James Madison, but it seems Burger King has jumped on the patriotic bandwagon that the rest of corporate America has been riding into the ground for the past few years.

As you watch TV tonight, count how many times you hear the word “freedom.” Note the drug commercials that promise you “freedom from your allergies.” Pay attention to the car commercials that extol “the freedom of the road.” You may not be able to speak freely at a presidential rally, but you still can get nights and weekends free on your cell phone.

As FBI agents infiltrate peace groups and the Patriot Act curtails our civil liberties, corporate America trumpets consumer choice more loudly than ever. As our real freedoms disappear, we are met everywhere by shrill proclamations that we’re living in a golden age of consumer freedom, and isn’t that what really matters anyway?

But perhaps the fact that you can choose “freedom financing” or $1,500 cash back on your new car is just a smoke screen. Perhaps the fact that you can choose from a multitude of lattes, toothpastes and DVD players obfuscates the fact that our public discourse is more rigidly controlled than ever by a handful of powerful companies, and that the freedoms that really matter are being abridged. The language of advertising, carefully designed to appeal to our most primal needs, has corrupted our public discourse.

The fact that “freedom” is Madison Avenue’s new buzzword, however, is ultimately a comforting one, because it means the psychologists hired by advertisers have pinpointed liberty as an essential part of the American character. There’s a chance that the will to be free may be elemental enough to repeal the Patriot Act and reclaim our lost liberties.

The choice between liberty and safety is a false one; there’s enough room for both in American life. To those who say this is a new kind of war: Every American war has been a new type of war. From the minutemen’s guerilla tactics to World War I’s mechanized slaughter to the jungle wars of Indochina, every war we’ve fought has been a different kind of war, fought against a different kind of enemy. What has remained constant, however, is the commitment of the American people to defending their liberty. Right now, “freedom of beef” is a cute but senseless joke; let’s make sure that freedom of speech doesn’t become one, too.

Columns reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily that of the Northern Star staff.