The Land of the Free.
It’s been beaten into our heads since childhood that our nation is free, that we can do what we want. But let’s be honest, it’s all bull. There’s a lot we can do, and there’s more we can do here than pretty much anywhere else on Earth. But are we really free? Not hardly.
Now, first of all, real freedom doesn’t mean that you can do what you want with impunity. There are always rules, and those rules should be as limited as possible. You hurt someone else, it should be your butt. No one is talking about anything less. It’s when we start restricting behavior that doesn’t affect another living soul.
For example, your personal money can be seized simply because you’re walking around with to much cash. The government’s argument is that it’s suspicious, and you can’t prove that you got the money legally, so they can take it. Now, what can be more basic of a freedom than an individual deciding how much walking around cash they should carry?
Your rental property can be seized because a tenant is doing something illegal. It doesn’t matter that you, the rightful owner, isn’t even accused of committing a crime. Your house goes on trial and has to prove it’s innocence. That’s right, an inanimate object is put on trial. Not only that, but because it’s not a person, there’s no “innocent until proven guilty” in effect.
How about you being arrested for what someone else does? It can happen after all. How about you’re giving a ride to someone and you’re pulled over. After a search (you had nothing to hide after all), you are shocked to discover that one of your passengers has a joint.
Congratulations, you’re all going to jail.
What’s more interesting is that in none of these scenarios has anyone being punished done anything illegal. Hell, in most cases it’s pretty clear that no one did anything wrong. But their property is seized anyways.
This doesn’t touch on things like how short of a barrel you’re allowed to have on your shotgun, or what substances you can put into your own body. It doesn’t get into idiotic things like “free speech zones” (started under President Bush, but still going strong). It doesn’t get into any number of things.
Make no mistake boys and girls, we are not living in a free society, we’re living in a society where we have an illusion of freedom. We have some freedoms, sure, but only until those get taken away too. Just a look at history shows that government always try to grasp more power by restricting more freedoms, even ours. The Constitution retards that somewhat, but since when has it really stopped elected officials from writing whatever laws they want.
Freedom. What is it good for? Plenty. If only we actually had it.
Honestly, Tom you’re way off the mark and rolling in absurdity. This fear mongering that the government wants to control us and, “always tries to grasp more power by restricting more freedoms, even ours,” is amazingly flawed at best. We can all agree that in a democratic society, nothing is perfect. In fact, in any society, nothing is perfect. No reasonable person claims that the situations you listed above are ideal. But a reasonable person does claim that the slightest sacfrice of small freedoms (like the cases you listed) are necessary to retain our overall, more important freedoms (like, say, the entire Bill of Rights, the amendments, the separation of church and state, etc.). Simply, our situatioin isn’t perfect, no one claims it to be, but it’s a hell of a lot better than most other societies.
Secondly, in what world do you live in which the government progressively “takes” our freedom? It seems to me that as time goes on, more and more rights and freedoms are produced for society. Say, after the Salem Witch Trials and the Inquisition came about the idea of freedom of religion. After the mass propaganda during the American Revolution came about the idea of freedom of press and speech. Then, the 2nd Amendment guarantees us the right to bear arms. The 10th Amendment guarantees states’ rights. The 13th Amendment ended slavery. The 15th Amendment guaranteed African-Americans the right to vote. The 19th Amendment allowed women the right to vote. The 24th Amendment ended poll taxes. The Civil Rights Movement and Supreme Court cases such as ‘Brown v. BOE’ granted equal rights to African-Americans. The Feminist Movement successfully pressured the government to grant equal treatment to both women and men. Currently, the repeal ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ is being debated and government officials such as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mullen and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates have claimed that it will be terminated, thus, granting rights to gay and lesibians serving in the military. These suggest that as time goes on, as society progesses, so do our rights and freedoms. Government does not gradually restrict our freedom, on the contrary, it gradually gives us more freedoms with which to improve our overall lives.
Tom, if you have anything else to say or if you wish to post other, hopefully less radical posts, please make sure that they are not intellectually bankrupt. Please make sure they are in conjuction with the facts. Please make sure that they are not so insensitive so as to discredit the hard fought rights of African-Americans, women, and now gays. Please make sure they actually make sense. Please make sure to just do better next time.
Really Connor, rolling in absurdity?
Take a look at the Patriot Act sometime, and it’s raping of the fourth amendment. Take a look at the constant power grab attacking the second amendment. And before you even think of mentioning the tenth amendment, keep in mind that state’s rights are currently a myth. The states HAVE no rights currently.
And I personally think the idea that “sacfrice[sic] of small freedoms (like the cases you listed) are necessary to retain our overall, more important freedoms”. Bull. Freedoms are what they are. When you sacrifice any part of your freedom, it becomes easier and justification for the next. If anything, the idea that sacrificing freedom is necessary to keep freedom involves some serious congnitive dissonance.
While advances have been made, and I never said they haven’t, there have been quantium leaps back as well. Government is also the body that established segregation. Government is also the body that kept women as second class citizens. Government is also the body that enacted “don’t ask, don’t tell”.
Of course, based on your comments, I’m sure you have more cognitive dissonance for us.
In the grand scheme of things, we have more rights and freedom than you’re letting on. You make it sound as if we live in North Korea under some authoritative regime. Again, I never said it was perfect, and, like yourself, I believe the Patriot Act massively encroaches on our freedom, I believe states should be given more rights, I believe there should be less gun control and restriction of the second amendment. I agree with you on this.
I also believe that our government has a lot more to do to guarantee us more, stronger rights and freedom. However, that does not mean we live with hardly any rights at all. The notion that freedom in American is “bull” is absolutely astounding. This is the absurdity of which I speak. To completely disregard our swarth of rights and pick apart a few that much of the public already wants changed is irresponsible. Again, our number and strength of rights is not perfect, and I understand your drive to strive for perfection in this category, but saying we live without rights is grossy exaggerating at best.
First, the real absurdity is your reading comprehension.
For example:
Ah yes, I said we had no freedom at all. You disagree about us not really being free? That’s fine. But since it’s been demonstarted for years that those rights can be stripped away at the whim of Congress, and there are more than enough instances of where we aren’t truly free, so I don’t feel that I’m wrong in the least.
Feel free to disagree. Frankly, I don’t care. But before you tell me, who is the co-owner of this site, to “do better next time”, you should make sure I actually said what you think I said.
Tom, I’m honestly sorry if I offended you in any way. However, I think we can both agree that next time we should refrain from taking cheap shots at each other’s character and instead focus on the issues. In this instance, I’ll take responsibility for igniting the fire. I respect your opinions on the issues (I think, and hope, you have the same respect for my views) and I look forward to a more mature, more civil conversation in the future.
Actually, I feel like I avoided cheap shots (my comment about reading comprehension was a joke, as evidenced by the emoticon). While you said some stuff that pissed me off regarding absurdity of my opinions, whatever. I didn’t lose any sleep over anything you wrote.
But you need to think about what you type, and how it will come across to others. Failure to do so may get your comment deleted, not because of what you say but how you say it. Attacks aren’t welcome here, and you’ve done more than your fair share on this site. It doesn’t matter who you attack either. You want to disagree, great. But be respectful with it or else you run the risk of your comments disappearing from this site.
Lee Ferrell fought for our freedom and is now running for Congress for the second time. I think we ought to rally around him – he served for us!
Brian,
Just because you’re a disabled vet doesn’t mean you’re fit to serve in Congress. Mental illness IS classified as a disability these days…