Some time back, I wrote about a terrible experience I had with my local city government. My ex, probibly out of anger over me not giving her the house after our divorce (and why the hell should I give it to her since she is the one who wanted out in the first place) reported me to the city building department. I was reported for having an illegal appartment in the basement (which my ex built, with the help of some of her man friends). Well I fought the city for over a year in court and ended up nearly bankrupt and angry as hell.

Well lately I have been thinking about a lot of things. I heard an ad on the radio for the US Navy about how its important to serve the country in able to maintain our freedom. I have talked to a lot of people lately and really have thought about how free people in the United States really are in contrast to the rest of the world. I came up with a list of pros and cons regarding life in these United States:

Pros:
1) Taxes in the US are somewhat lower than in other countries such as Canada, Australia or in much of Europe, though much less than Saudi Arabia which has no income tax.
2) Streets are safer than most developing countries like Mexico or the Phillipenes.
3) Unemployment is relatively low.
4) There is no compulsorary Millitary Service as there is in Russia, all of continental europe (that is all of europe except for Britain and Ireland), China, Korea, Japan, Isreal, all of the Middle East and Mexico
5) Easy access to higher education. Anyone who can afford to attend a college or university or trade school can do so. This ensures social mobility for most people.
6) A justice system where people are innocent until proven guilty. Better than where the opposite is true (like in Mexico).

Cons:
1) No public healthcare. If you are not insured you can go to hell.
2) More crime than nations of Europe, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zeland.
3) Brutal prison system. Death penalty.
4) Large and growing gap between the rich and poor.
5) Racism
6) Except for Las Vegas, all bars close at 1 am on weekdays and 2 am other times. Cant drink beer in public places (as you can in europe), in some places you cant buy licquor on Sundays.
7) No public nudity on beaches, in city parks or even in your own back yard.
8) Harsh, repressive drug laws. Current laws allow cops to steal your car, even if you are just suspected of something.
9) Stupid, paternalistic sex laws. Prostitution illegal. Anti Homosexual biases in many regions of the country.

Honestly, I think most of the people who harp on how free the US is are people who do not travel very much, at least not to countries where there is more freedom. Sure, the US has more freedoms that in, say, the People's Republic of China or Saudi Arabia but how about in compare to Sweden or Denmark?

Now how does that pertain to myself? Well I dont feel free when:
1) I go to a bar after working late and its closed.
2) I see on TV how free people in Scandanavia sunbathe publiclly in the nude and I cant even go in my underware to a public park.
3) I read in the paper how the cops bust some guy for smoking a dubie and he goes off to prison and gets butt raped.
4) When I see a cop car and it reads on the back "this vehicle was purchased from funds confiscated from drug offenders".
5) When I am afraid to even check out some web site because I am afraid the cops will know I went there and bust me.
6) I am socked with a huge bill for my daughters' medical treatment and the worthless PPO, which I pay for with my own money, refuses to pay for it.
7) I go downtown and see homeless people begging for change. Many of these people were veterines, some of them had jobs and they found that there is no place for them in the "new economy".
8) I turn on the TV news or read in a mainstream newspaper and cannot hear anything but more propaganda about the President and his little war.

6) Except for Las Vegas, all bars close at 1 am on weekdays and 2 am other times.


actually, the bars in the quarter here never close

Originally posted by Kraw



actually, the bars in the quarter here never close
Hmmmmm.... I think that Lousiana might be the last bastion of freedom in the US.

I tend to think of the American revolution as a business revolution. The colonists just didn't want to pay off their loans, is how it seems to me. So, when Americans talk about how their freedoms are being eroded, I feel sorry if that's the case, but why should you expect to have any freedoms if you place your loyalty in a government which came about as a result of a Coup d'Etat? I dunno, maybe this just sounds:werd: , but it has really bugged me the way Americans seem to think so well of themselves when they seem to be just the British with fewer laws, more lax immigration standards, and less tradition coupled with many, many more resources. If America had stayed British, it might be better. I think it would be better.
Of course, thanks to the aforementioned lax immigration standards, soon enough, it seems, America will look more like Brazil, demographically speaking, than Britain.
One good thing about the Revolution was the bill of rights. That, at least, was a good idea.

Originally posted by alienation
I tend to think of the American revolution as a business revolution. The colonists just didn't want to pay off their loans, is how it seems to me. So, when Americans talk about how their freedoms are being eroded, I feel sorry if that's the case, but why should you expect to have any freedoms if you place your loyalty in a government which came about as a result of a Coup d'Etat? I dunno, maybe this just sounds:werd: , but it has really bugged me the way Americans seem to think so well of themselves when they seem to be just the British with fewer laws, more lax immigration standards, and less tradition coupled with many, many more resources. If America had stayed British, it might be better. I think it would be better.
Of course, thanks to the aforementioned lax immigration standards, soon enough, it seems, America will look more like Brazil, demographically speaking, than Britain.
One good thing about the Revolution was the bill of rights. That, at least, was a good idea.
Its like this, the American Revolution was instigated by people like Paul Revere and Thomas Payne who really wanted a democratic society but it was hyjacked by buisiness interests. Immediately after the revolution, the propertied classes took over. Few americans realize that the original May Day started as a rememberance of the Haymarket incident in Chicago when police busted up a meeting of Union orginizers who were agitating for an 8 hour day. A bomb was tossed and several cops were dead. As a result 4 organizers, none of them responsible for the bombing, were hanged. How many americans know that the largest Anarchist organization of any kind was the IWW, formed in 1905 in Chicago, or that a Socialist Presidential candidate, Eugene W Debbs got a million votes in 1920 while in prison. The problem is that the facts were hid.

Originally posted by Criminal

Its like this, the American Revolution was instigated by people like Paul Revere and Thomas Payne who really wanted a democratic society but it was hyjacked by buisiness interests. Immediately after the revolution, the propertied classes took over. Few americans realize that the original May Day started as a rememberance of the Haymarket incident in Chicago when police busted up a meeting of Union orginizers who were agitating for an 8 hour day. A bomb was tossed and several cops were dead. As a result 4 organizers, none of them responsible for the bombing, were hanged. How many americans know that the largest Anarchist organization of any kind was the IWW, formed in 1905 in Chicago, or that a Socialist Presidential candidate, Eugene W Debbs got a million votes in 1920 while in prison. The problem is that the facts were hid.

Sounds accurate, for the most part. I think some of the "Founding Fathers" may have been little more than social climbers with various talents, but I wouldn't be surprised to learn that others of them were idealists who were motivated by noble goals. I think idealism can and has been great, and I'm no enemy of some forms of socialism, at least. I'm concerned that people pay too much attention to just having more at the expense of cultural vitality and separateness from other cultures. I feel as though I can't be completely anti-America in part because of people like Eugene V. Debs, and Fighting Bob La Follette, and the good Americans I know. Thinking Americans, compassionate Americans. Even the other side, the ones who really seem to like George Washington and the revolution, they've done a lot of good, it seems. If it was up to me, the British Empire would be resurrected in a somewhat different form, and America would be part of it, but I wouldn't want that to imply hardship for Americans. So, in the absence of the British America which I long for, thoughtful discussion seems useful and from time to time pleasant as well.:)