Grammatron
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FreeChile said:
Yes.
pgwenthold
Penultimate Amazing
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Re: Re: Re: Is there freedom in America?
Are legal drugs, prostitution, certain firearms, and gay marriage a requirement for there to be "freedom."
Tony said:
Are legal drugs, prostitution, certain firearms, and gay marriage a requirement for there to be "freedom."
Nyarlathotep
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Depends on what exactly you mean by the question. Is there complete 100% freedom, no, the only way to get that is to live in a state of anarchy. This of course has its own, rather obvious, problems. The other extreme is no freedom whatsoever, which also sucks
But does the US strike a pretty good balance between the two extremes? I would say yes. We aren't perfect by any means, but no country on the face of the Earth is. And I think we do a better job of protecting freedom than most. No matter how little I may think about some of the things the current administration has done, as long as I can gripe loudly about them with no fear of disapearing into the night, I wouldn't call us a failed experiment.
The trick is, we have to maintain it this way, that's the hard part and where we many screw up someday, if we aren't careful.
But does the US strike a pretty good balance between the two extremes? I would say yes. We aren't perfect by any means, but no country on the face of the Earth is. And I think we do a better job of protecting freedom than most. No matter how little I may think about some of the things the current administration has done, as long as I can gripe loudly about them with no fear of disapearing into the night, I wouldn't call us a failed experiment.
The trick is, we have to maintain it this way, that's the hard part and where we many screw up someday, if we aren't careful.
Nyarlathotep
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Re: Re: Re: Is there freedom in America?
We aren't perfect, no doubt about it. But compare us to most of the rest of the world and we are pretty damn free by comparison.
The things you mention are things we have to work on, I'll agree 100%. But the fact that we still have problem areas is a far cry from being able to say that there is no freedom in America.
Tony said:
We aren't perfect, no doubt about it. But compare us to most of the rest of the world and we are pretty damn free by comparison.
The things you mention are things we have to work on, I'll agree 100%. But the fact that we still have problem areas is a far cry from being able to say that there is no freedom in America.
Grammatron
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Re: Re: Re: Is there freedom in America?
Yet even despite those qualifiers, we still have freedom.
No that's not why, although I can see you've never been to Nevada for some of those.Tony said:
Yet even despite those qualifiers, we still have freedom.
Tony
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Is there freedom in America?
To answer a definitive "Yes" to the question in the OP, I'd say yes, those things are a requirement. Especially drugs prostitution and gay marriage since they deal directly with issues of body and religion.
pgwenthold said:
To answer a definitive "Yes" to the question in the OP, I'd say yes, those things are a requirement. Especially drugs prostitution and gay marriage since they deal directly with issues of body and religion.
rikzilla
Ninja wave: Atomic fire-breath ninja
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The amount of dissent heard in a nation is in direct proportion to the amount of real freedom it's people can experience. Since there is a robust political opposition in the west in general and America in particular I'd say yes there is much freedom here.
Freedom is expressed overtly in the streets, at the voting booth, and is protected under the law. It's not perfect, but nothing is.
-z
Freedom is expressed overtly in the streets, at the voting booth, and is protected under the law. It's not perfect, but nothing is.
-z
aerocontrols
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FreeChile said:
Yes, there is freedom in America. Certainly not absolute freedom, of course. In some areas, we have too much freedom, in far more areas, we have too little. Probably areas exist where there is just enough.
Being a democratic society, we tend to argue over which areas are which.
MattJ
Cleon
King of the Pod People
Re: Re: Re: Re: Is there freedom in America?
Depends on who you talk to, I suppose. To some libertarian-minded folks, you either have Liberty (tm) or you don't. Liberty (tm) means Absolute Individual Freedom. Anything less isn't Liberty (tm).
The question, of course, is "what is freedom?" Ask a liberal, get one answer. Ask a conservative, get another. Ask a Marxist, yet another. Etc.
Asking "is there freedom in America" is entirely subjective, and thus almost completely meaningless.
pgwenthold said:
Depends on who you talk to, I suppose. To some libertarian-minded folks, you either have Liberty (tm) or you don't. Liberty (tm) means Absolute Individual Freedom. Anything less isn't Liberty (tm).
The question, of course, is "what is freedom?" Ask a liberal, get one answer. Ask a conservative, get another. Ask a Marxist, yet another. Etc.
Asking "is there freedom in America" is entirely subjective, and thus almost completely meaningless.
TragicMonkey
Poisoned Waffles
The question is meaningless without either a "from" or a "to" and something tacked onto the end.
rikzilla
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Is there freedom in America?
Only if it's really really important that you marry a gay prostitute while stoned. Or is it that you want to marry a stoned gay prostitute??
Yeah Tony,...that makes 'em way more free than us!
-z
Tony said:
Only if it's really really important that you marry a gay prostitute while stoned. Or is it that you want to marry a stoned gay prostitute??
Yeah Tony,...that makes 'em way more free than us!
-z
Nyarlathotep
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Is there freedom in America?
In those ways, yes. On the other hand you'd have a helluva time buying a .357 magnum over there, I would think. It also sounds like they have a lot more regualtion of their businesses. They aren't perfect either.
It's all relative.
Tony said:
In those ways, yes. On the other hand you'd have a helluva time buying a .357 magnum over there, I would think. It also sounds like they have a lot more regualtion of their businesses. They aren't perfect either.
It's all relative.
Nyarlathotep
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TragicMonkey said:
That is a very good point.
Grammatron
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Is there freedom in America?
Very well, define freedom for me.
Tony said:
Very well, define freedom for me.
Tony
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Is there freedom in America?
So you only care about the individual rights you agree with, not much different than the morons, religionists and fascists who claim to support "freedom" and "liberty". Caring only about things and people you agree with while spitting on everything else seems like the exact opposite of freedom.
rikzilla said:Only if it's really really important that you marry a gay prostitute while stoned. Or is it that you want to marry a stoned gay prostitute??
So you only care about the individual rights you agree with, not much different than the morons, religionists and fascists who claim to support "freedom" and "liberty". Caring only about things and people you agree with while spitting on everything else seems like the exact opposite of freedom.