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Abstract
American political culture is a symbolic construction--a chimera of traditions, rituals, and ceremonies that create and energize fundamental American symbols. In turn, these symbols create culture. One symbol constitutive of political culture is "liberty." This study examines the rhetorical process in which liberty constructs and sustains American political culture. This research goal is accomplished by examining and explaining the variety of liberty rhetoric revolving around Liberty Weekend 1986. Specifically, this dissertation studies four rhetorical communities and the way they transform Liberty Weekend into motivation for their separate socio-political agendas. As each community invokes liberty for identity and justification of their goals, political culture emerges in process of rhetorical struggle. Finally, this study argues that liberty research could be more fruitful by asking how does liberty mean rather than what does liberty mean.
