"I think there is an important and structural and strategic value in American subculture," Maddow said. "If you believe that the mainstream doesn't always meet everyone's needs, that it isn't always the most reliable route to an America that we can be even more proud of … you need to ensure that other streams survive. And, that's why it is handy that our Constitution insists that Americans protect the freedom to be odd."

Maddow described the Bill of Rights as the document that both reflects and inflects the diversity of the country, and stands as a testament to the power of the individual.

"We're … the people that made street luge a sport. We go to arenas and bleed from the ears while we watch really large vehicles drive over piles of crushed, smaller vehicles, and that's a sport," Maddow said. "We're a monster truck, X-Games kind of country, we are nonconformist and there are as many different ways to be American as there are Americans. Which is something to be proud of."

Maddow's political commentary reflects her strong stance on individual rights and has recently focused on lambasting former Vice President Dick Cheney for his continued defense of "enhanced interrogation" techniques approved for use on terror suspects during his tenure under President George W. Bush. Maddow called the decisions a direct violation of rights guaranteed under the Eighth Amendment.

"My government no longer feels constrained by this right of mine … because it is not being enforced," Maddow said. "And, therefore, it is not being protected, which is starting to make me mad and is why I talk about torture every day on my TV show."

E-MAIL: araymond@desnews.com