Freedom, particularly in America, gets held up as some sort of ideal value that is believed everyone needs, and strives for.  It is said to be held above just about any other value, including security, or ending poverty.  Well, is it that the drive for "freedom" and belief in it, is merely people saying they want the way the world works to conform to their wishes?  If people were given the choice between either being freed of all constraints placed on them and not stopped from doing anything (have the ability to get resources, even if they don't have them) and having the world conform to their wishes, how many people would choose the former and not the later.

In short, do people really want freedom, or do they merely want the world to conform to their wishes, wants, needs and desires?  In short, the want for "freedom" is merely a way of saying "getting what you want".

Depends on who your talking about.

Me, I want plenty of stuff legal on the basis of Freedom that I don't want to do, nor do I want people to do.

Like Heroin. (Or any drug for that matter)

People should be free to do whatever they want so long as it doesn't directly  harm another.

I think your view of freedom might be a little narrow...  Just my experience now, but I know a bunch of folks who are happy living within the framework of an equitably governed society with reasonable laws and mores, and just want the freedom to suceed within those rules.  Of course, we are all reasonably successful, so that makes it easier.

Personally, I still think Texas should succeed from the union...

HAHA!

Everyone would be happy for Texas to succeed. Secede on the other hand...

damn you got me!  shows you don't need an education to be successful!  :)

and make there own mistakes and suffer, learn, or grow from them.

Well, you can take what I say to be that I don't think as many people want freedom as they have stated.  I think people more likely want the world to conform to their wishes, rather than have "freedom".  Merely giving a person "freedom" under a legal system does nothing to insure they have the ability to use that freedom to do anything they want.

Its hard to see how someone can get what they want if they do not have freedom. I would say that freedom is a foundational belief (this is what the Founders meant when they said that liberty was self-evident), and the claim that people wish to do what they want can be derived from this freedom. Freedom is simply necessary for someone to do what they want. Point being, if someone wants to do whatever they want, they are implicitly claiming that they want freedom.

As other users have posted, freedom does not mean absolute freedom as there are legal constraints. Freedom does not mean people can do whatever they want without facing the consequences of their actions.

There's no such thing as freedom because were all free to do anything we want if we're able. 

Freedom is a concept the kings and governments made to enslave us.

When I need to pay for my heroin addiction you are gonna be the first person I rob