Quote:
Originally Posted by pornguy
I think her point was, that as free as some people think the US is, it is not. People have been arrested in the states with signs that spoke against Bush, Or had the FBI show up on thier door for talking about him.
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Every country has laws, police and jails. Sometimes people are arrested for breaking these laws, sometimes people are arrested for what someone thinks is a violation of these laws, sometimes people get a fair trial, sometimes people don't. So? We all know that.
A seatbelt law is an infringement of my freedom. A terrible draconian measure whereby I am legally forced to be restrained to my seat when I drive (at less than 70 mph on I-95, of course). Am I truly FREE when i can't smoke in a restaurant, can't drive 90 mph, can't smoke weed, can't drive without a seatbelt, must restrain a baby in a child seat when driving, and so on? A myriad of laws all restricting my freedoms?
Some countries have laws that seem absurd to people from other countries. I was just in the Netherlands and couldn't get sudafed for my cold without a prescription. Yet I could buy and smoke weed or buy hookers. Where am I truly free? I can buy a handgun in the US. Does that make me more free than in most other western countries?
Most first world western countries that I've travelled to have about the same degree of political liberties. There are little differences. One might get arrested for denying the holocaust in one country but there might be no legal ramifications for the same action in another.
Freedom is meaningful only comparatively. It seems to me when you compare the political freedoms in Cuba vs The United States, Canada, Australia and the EU you are looking at two completely different worlds.