Do American people have too much freedom?

[sandmoth12]

Freedom is a good thing, but too much of a good thing is bad. A society with too much freedom will eventually corrupt itself.

Hmm strange now I see why some countries would rather have less freedoms. Sometimes people need to be told what they can and cannot have. Sometimes people need to be controlled and ruled.

In the end you're screwed either way. Too much freedom is a bad thing, and too little freedom is also a bad thing.

[Volitar]

American isn't as free as people make it out to be.

[select20]

American isn't as free as people make it out to be.

Definitely true. In fact every year that passes we are less free.

[Zathrendar]

Freedom is a good thing, but too much of a good thing is bad. A society with too much freedom will eventually corrupt itself.

Nonsense. The most corrupt countries are dictatorships, not free societies, where you barter for "privileges" (not that democracies are much different, they just call it pressure groups/lobbies.) There is no such thing as "too much freedom" provided no one's rights are violated. Besides, the US is far from "free". It is just freer than countries like Saudi Arabia, and luckily still has a populace ballsy and with enough of a spine to stand up to its over-reaching, arrogant government.

[Deleted]

Americans aren't even the most free people on earth. And true freedom does not exist. Just countries that are more free than others.

No country on this planet can be considered to be free.

[Voolawl]

American isn't as free as people make it out to be.

This. For a country dubbed the Land of the Free, we're incredibly limited

[sandmoth12]

Nonsense. The most corrupt countries are dictatorships, not free societies, where you barter for "privileges" (not that democracies are much different, they just call it pressure groups/lobbies.) There is no such thing as "too much freedom" provided no one's rights are violated. Besides, the US is far from "free". It is just freer than countries like Saudi Arabia, and luckily still has a populace ballsy and with enough of a spine to stand up to it government.

We will eventually reach the corruptness level of dictators ships. My personal is that all political systems are flawed, and they will all eventually crumble to the same ends.

There just is not a perfect system to govern people.

[NineSpine]

Nonsense. The most corrupt countries are dictatorships, not free societies, where you barter for "privileges" (not that democracies are much different, they just call it pressure groups/lobbies.) There is no such thing as "too much freedom" provided no one's rights are violated. Besides, the US is far from "free". It is just freer than countries like Saudi Arabia, and luckily still has a populace ballsy and with enough of a spine to stand up to its over-reaching, arrogant government.

Americans hold their government accountable to a laughably small degree compared to many other countries, including most European countries.

Liberty at a certain level becomes a trade off. We accept a right to private property, but in doing so we lose the right to take what we want. The most corrupt societies are not always dictatorships. The United States was largely fueled by slavery while acting as a democratic republic. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the U.S. experiences horrific abuses of citizens by big business, up to and including mass murder. Segregation continued under our democracy. Japanese internment continued under our democracy. The Vietnam War happened under our democracy.

[Rukentuts]

The most important individual freedom I'd say we Americans have is the First Amendment. Hands down.

[Noomz]

Freedom is a good thing, but too much of a good thing is bad. A society with too much freedom will eventually corrupt itself.

Hmm strange now I see why some countries would rather have less freedoms. Sometimes people need to be told what they can and cannot have. Sometimes people need to be controlled and ruled.

In the end you're screwed either way. Too much freedom is a bad thing, and too little freedom is also a bad thing.

No. I think it's the other way around. I think the US suffers a severe illusion of freedom. You have a lot less of it than you think.

---------- Post added 2013-01-10 at 09:38 PM ----------

Americans hold their government accountable to a laughably small degree compared to many other countries, including most European countries.

Liberty at a certain level becomes a trade off. We accept a right to private property, but in doing so we lose the right to take what we want. The most corrupt societies are not always dictatorships. The United States was largely fueled by slavery while acting as a democratic republic. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the U.S. experiences horrific abuses of citizens by big business, up to and including mass murder. Segregation continued under our democracy. Japanese internment continued under our democracy. The Vietnam War happened under our democracy.

Perhaps he meant corrupt in a legal sense? Though I sort of disagree with him, even then. There are a lot of so-called democracies that are terrible places to live in, some African nations come to mind. Though such corruptions is because power doesn't really lie with the people and social injustice is tremendous. If we think that the 1% rule the US in a bad way, it's nothing to what the same 1% does in the continent of Africa.

[Slummish]

[NineSpine]

No. I think it's the other way around. I think the US suffers a severe illusion of freedom. You have a lot less of it than you think.

---------- Post added 2013-01-10 at 09:38 PM ----------



Perhaps he meant corrupt in a legal sense? Though I sort of disagree with him, even then. There are a lot of so-called democracies that are terrible places to live in, some African nations come to mind. Though such corruptions is because power doesn't really lie with the people and social injustice is tremendous. If we think that the 1% rule the US in a bad way, it's nothing to what the same 1% does in the continent of Africa.

If you define corruption as illegal, you miss the boat. The problem in the U.S. is what's legal, not what's illegal. Corruption is wholesale here in a way that it is not in other modern nations. A story just came out about the recommended scheduling for new Democratic congresspeople, and it included spending almost all of their time fundraising, because that's what you need to do to win. Policy doesn't matter. It's all money, and that's the LEGAL aspect.

[sandmoth12]

Excuse me if I do not take a deceased comedians opinion's seriously on political issues. Now if you would have posted something from an actual political science professional I may have read it and took it to heart. But this is laughable.

[Deleted]

This is an odd analogy about the fickle nature of freedom, but I'll press on regardless. The BBC is a publicly funded broadcaster that in the past (and more rarely these days) has put out high quality, well researched documentaries and media. In the 1960s some the radical playwrights, many of whom were critical of the establishment (such as John Osborne) were broadcast in radio plays and television dramas. The BBC were able to pursue these "novel" but not necessarily massively popular ideas, because they were publicly funded and not driven by the bottom line or viewing figures. This is in comparison to an entity like Fox News, where presenters like Bill O'Reilly frequently refer to their success in terms of their ratings.

On the other hand, the BBC has been revealed to be involved in many institutional scandals that have put it under heavy scrutiny. In a sense the BBC was free from responding to popular whims and attitudes in that it could follow whatever intiatives it's employees and presenters liked without following any ideological bias. David Attenborough was an example of this, and was briefly Director General of the BBC. In my view, freedom can be showing people new ways of seeing things, rather than solely pandering to their narrow biases and beliefs. I'm not saying that this is more prevalent in America - the British tabloids are very biased and prone to sensationalism and of course the BBC and other TV broadcasters are biased. But what I'm saying is that being "mentally free" and not chained to populist ideologies is what liberty is about too. As far as freedom goes, I don't think any society has enough of it.

[Skronk]

Excuse me if I do not take a deceased comedians opinion's seriously on political issues. Now if you would have posted something from an actual political science professional I may have read it and took it to heart. But this is laughable.

So because he is a comedian his opinion is invalid? why dont you respond to the points he is making instead of closing your ears and yelling "LALALALLALALALA I CANT HEAR YOU LALALALALALALA"

[slackjawsix]

So because he is a comedian his opinion is invalid? why dont you respond to the points he is making instead of closing your ears and yelling "LALALALLALALALA I CANT HEAR YOU LALALALALALALA"

no you see a man famous for his wit isnt a good source of opinion but a video game forum is

[Deleted]

There is no such thing as "too much freedom" provided no one's rights are violated.

That's a pretty big provision already.

But with freedom also comes responsibility.
- Should a child have the freedom to go to school or not? Hard to find a job, if you can't read.
- Should an adult without financial/economic education have the freedom to develop his own pension plan?

I could go on for a while. But people tend to be very dumb outside their fields of interest, while overestimating their own abilities. That's why it's better to provide a basic safety net for everyone, regardless of stupidity.

[Deleted]

Excuse me if I do not take a deceased comedians opinion's seriously on political issues. Now if you would have posted something from an actual political science professional I may have read it and took it to heart. But this is laughable.

because you need to have studied political science to have a point of view right? - go back to your cave

[Rend Blackhand]

I think American freedoms should stay the same but without things like the Patriot Act and the NDAA. The US has great freedom to do things.

In Britain, there are CCTV cameras watching me walk down the main road in the city.

I'm probably on a Home Office watch list for complaining about a lack of freedom in Britain online /tinfoilhat

[Reeve]

I'm pretty happy with my level of freedom in the US.

There have been studies that show, strangely enough, that as people gain more freedom of choice they become less happy. I can sort of understand that, I suppose, as there are times I wouldn't mind just being institutionalized for a little while to know that there's a plan for me and I don't have to figure it all out on my own. But I wouldn't want that to be my life all the time. I like having some level of freedom.