... when they see brutal governments abuse the rights of their people.
... when they read books and watch movies that show the follies of satism, like Harry Potter.
... when people get harmed by repeated business cycles under government regimes.
... when people get put in jail.
... when jury nullification isn't respected.
Add more of these or comment on ones already posted.
Schools are labour camps.
Why don't people realize that they are not free in the US...
February 17 - 1600 - Giordano Bruno is burnt alive by the catholic church. Aquinas : "much more reason is there for heretics, as soon as they are convicted of heresy, to be not only excommunicated but even put to death."
Because they have no choice.
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I think it's because there's always a place on earth that has a more oppressive regime. The US Administration can always point to a country that has a violent government and tell common Americans "look how unfree China/Cuba/North Korea are. You Americans must therefore be free".
Irish Liberty Forum
MatthewWilliam: I think it's because there's always a place on earth that has a more oppressive regime. The US Administration can always point to a country that has a violent government and tell common Americans "look how unfree China/Cuba/North Korea are. You Americans must therefore be free".
I had a conversation with some friends a few weeks ago about freedom in the US and their reason was: The US is a free country because women are not forced to wear "burqas".
Sometimes "majority" simply means that all the fools are on the same side
katja328: I had a conversation with some friends a few weeks ago about freedom in the US and their reason was: The US is a free country because women are not forced to wear "burqas".
I think that's it. They don't care if millions of pot smokers are in jail while murderers go free, or that brown-skinned people are routinely rounded up and put in concentration camps, or that they can't open up a hotdog stand without asking permission from a dozen different government organizations, or that people aren't allowed to carry a semi-automatic handgun in most of the country. They don't care becuase they don't smoke pot, they don't like brown-skinned people, they don't want to sell hotdogs on the roadside, and they only want cops to have semi-automatic handguns. And they may not like having 60% of their income confiscated, but they're sure as hell not going to do anything about it because a huge government makes them feel safe.
So since they prefer the idea of a government that keeps them safe and suppresses the things they dislike to the idea of liberty, they have to come up with some reason why their government is worth defending. So, drawing on a long history of national myth and apologetic rhetoric, they tell themselves, and others, that we're "free". Because even though the U.S. is the largest government in the history of the world, and even though it imprisons more non-violent "criminals" than any other government now or ever, and even though it would take a whole law school a decade to read all the laws, regulations, statutes and acts divised by our "free" system...
nobody has to wear a burqua.
Pro Christo et Libertate integre!
That most people are unaffected by the more totalitarian aspects current to the state is certainly part of the reason people, when asked, insist they are free. What I'd like to know is how people can actively and consistently support all the Patriot Acts, Wall Street bailouts, &c.
BTW in addition to the "no burqas" justification is the all-pervasive "we live in a democracy, the institutionalization of freedom!"
Diminishing Marginal Utility - IT'S THE LAW!
This is one area you and I disagree on.
They have choices. They are just hard and potentially dangerous.
If you find something evil that wobbles, push it. - Gary North
If you think about it, being an American is pretty good by human standards. You get to milk all of the 3rd world countries for near-slave labour, you get to murder and kill anyone who might threaten you, or to gain access to cheap resources.
You have porn, booze, rock'n roll and sex. The best technology, loads of food and fashion. Easy credit, lots of social services, and the entire regime runs on a debt that will never be paid back.
Sundays you watch football, summers you bbq.
What's to worry about? You're American. You're exceptional. You're the people living under the shining city on the hill. You've got more than everyone else, outputting half the effort, and anyone who would dispute that is a terrorist sympathizer, in the sights of a Blackwater assassin or about to be killed by a UAV drone.
Pax Americana. It's not just a dream, it's everyone else's nightmare.
... when presidents lie, abuse power, and do horrible things.
... when people find that they cannot do what they want to do, even though it does not conflict with the rights of other people.
... when people realize that their vote does not guarantee results, but trade gives concrete benefits.
... when every law ever written, taken together, is really long, when a much simpler system could be created.
... when people see that the Constitution does not restrain the government.
First off we do still enjoy many freedoms and also as someone else pointed out, in relation to the rest of the world we are still doing pretty good. Secondly, from my conversation with people I can say with fair certainty that Americans are very aware things are a mess. People aren't stupid. Most will admit the government is a racket. I'm often surprised how freedom is still there just below the veil of propaganda. But the instinct and propaganda exist side by side thus many of the ideas they hold are contradictory. I honestly think they just don't spend time thinking about it and they fail to follow their feelings through to the conclusion. They lack guidance and good role models. Moreover they have no reason to do so. For in social democracy responsibility exists only as far as the voting booth. People cling to the vote because it is more comforting to believe if we elect the right guy everything will be alright rather than to acknowledge that things are out of our hands. Even those who will admit whole thing is a sham have been convinced that they are too small and insignificant to do anything; they feel alone even though others feel the same. They're told this is the way things have been and will be and there's nothing you can do about it. So they feel hopeless. How can they stand up to the Establishment with it's monopoly on law and violence, on money and power? And so they feel powerless. This is why Barack Obama has been so successful and why - even though I don't agree with his policies and wont be voting for him - I believe he is so vital to the well being of the America. Unless people feel they can do something about it they wont be willing to admit something is wrong.
liberty student: If you think about it, being an American is pretty good by human standards. You get to milk all of the 3rd world countries for near-slave labour, you get to murder and kill anyone who might threaten you, or to gain access to cheap resources. You have porn, booze, rock'n roll and sex. The best technology, loads of food and fashion. Easy credit, lots of social services, and the entire regime runs on a debt that will never be paid back. Sundays you watch football, summers you bbq. What's to worry about? You're American. You're exceptional. You're the people living under the shining city on the hill. You've got more than everyone else, outputting half the effort, and anyone who would dispute that is a terrorist sympathizer, in the sights of a Blackwater assassin or about to be killed by a UAV drone. Pax Americana. It's not just a dream, it's everyone else's nightmare.
Hell, since you put it that way what's not to love about America? What's that song? "I'm proud to be an American/ Where at least I know I'm free." Yeah...so long as I still get to enjoy my distractions and never have to worry about real problems because they are presented in 30 second sound bites on the nightly news followed by some talking head who explains how the government is going to fix it I can continue to work my 9-5 job, living my tract housing, mowing my lawn, drinking beer and dream about doing the babysitter when the wife ain't around, play golf on Sunday morning and watch the game later when I'm done. What's not to love about this country?
"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds. " -- Samuel Adams.
There're degrees of freedom allowed by different governments. Compared to any dictatorship (or even some democratic countries) US seems like a land of freedom and opportunity. Compared to a stateless society or even a minimal government it was supposed to be originally, it's, of course, a nightmare.
If I hear not allowed much oftener; said Sam, I'm going to get angry.
J.R.R.Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
They do realize it. They hate it and they wish it was different. The want to do something about it but they can't. Why? Mencken nailed it. The defining human characeristic is widespread cowardice.
We have all acted cowardly at some point or another. It is loathsome but easier than putting up a fight. Those of us who us who work to be free understand that it does not just happen. Being free is a ongoing and constant process that requires a continuos effort. The vast majority of cowardly humans do not have what it takes to attempt and maintain such a thing.
Unfortunately, that trait does not seem to be disappearing and it should not be expected to. Being free is truly a personal struggle and the masses hate struggle.
adamp:They do realize it. They hate it and they wish it was different.
BS, you obviously haven't heard anything from a supporter of Barack Obama.
"You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows"
Bob Dylan
adamp: They do realize it. They hate it and they wish it was different. The want to do something about it but they can't. Why? Mencken nailed it. The defining human characeristic is widespread cowardice. We have all acted cowardly at some point or another. It is loathsome but easier than putting up a fight. Those of us who us who work to be free understand that it does not just happen. Being free is a ongoing and constant process that requires a continuos effort. The vast majority of cowardly humans do not have what it takes to attempt and maintain such a thing. Unfortunately, that trait does not seem to be disappearing and it should not be expected to. Being free is truly a personal struggle and the masses hate struggle.
That's why leadership and choice creation is so important. We can't think that if we educate people enough, they will be able to do anything about anything.
adamp: The want to do something about it but they can't.
The want to do something about it but they can't.
The don't want to do anything about it. They are too comfortable having government take care of them. The might complain a little here and there, but overall, as long as they can wear whatever they want, drive a car, eat their xxxl french fries and have their supersized soda and come home to 384 tv-channels they are not going to lift a finger for change.
Perhaps popular culture has become so homogeneous that it has become very easy to have an idea of the ideal average American, and the definition of freedom has been confused unconsciously as trying to become equal to that average American through the meltin pot. Any deviation is revolutionary and anti-American, so freedom to consider such deviation is not even considered.
I hope I made myself understood. The style is awkward but I meant every word I wrote in the last paragraph.
Art transcends ideology.
http://mises.org/Community/blogs/ruben
Obama supporters, yes I know many, are exactly the type I am talking about. People who call upon the government to save everybody are able to attempt to rid themselves of the shame of being cowards by seeming righteous without actually having to help anybody or to come into contact with the challanges that charity implies. The can be spineless weasles and still seem beneficient. Socialism, or at least the proclamation of socialism, is the perfect scam for gutless scoundrels.
People who watch TV and eat big cartons of fries are not happy people. They drown themselves in greasy food and zone out on the tube as a consolation prize of sorts to deal with the realization that they are chickens. Within everybody is the wish to be something more than what they are, unless you are happy with yourself in which case you strive to be evermore yourself. The oafs who go shopping and get their jeans and their burgers wish that they were made of some superior cloth. They are not. They are cowards and hence they grudgingly accept the fate of those who control their very lives.
How about naming one thing you are not free to do in the US that you would be willing to die for.
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