Do American people have too much freedom?

[Belloc]

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.

That, in my opinion, is exactly the problem. We ARE being told what we can and cannot have. We ARE being controlled and ruled. The government is too involved in our lives and in all the wrong places.

Well, maybe not all the wrong places... but the US government has grown into something that it was never meant to be. The political system is corrupt. Maybe not so much that it can't be salvaged, but it's corrupt and it's inept. The situation gets worse every year and we keep electing people who don't know how to fix anything.

So, when you've got a corrupt institution being run by inept people, the people of the country are allowed to become more and more fucked up and dependent.

You're right: In the end, we're screwed either way.

[Kraenen]

Ahh the Kinder Egg, so delicious. I ate them all the time in Spain. Pity I can't get them here in the U.S.

Sandmoth12: Too much freedom!? Are you serious!? Look at the USSR (now defunct), Cuba, North Korea, China, Venezuela and tell me too much freedom is bad thing. Too much government is a bad thing, anything the government touches dies! Why do you think the U.S. Postal Service is on the the brink of bankruptcy? Medicare? The only people who want less freedom are the ignorant and those who want to control the ignorant. One last question for you Sandmoth12; which are you?

Wait, what? The us postal service isn't on the brink of bankruptcy.

[Deleted]

Personally i have no idea how they are not banned. I remember when i was a wee lad and tried to open those damn plastic eggs with my teeth. Could easily have choked on it had i been unlucky. But they were stuck so hard together that you pretty much had to bite it open.

Yes, my childhood was full of dangers. From plastic eggs to legos.

I rode bicykles without a helmet. They should've taken me away from my parents.

[Bakis]

I rode bicykles without a helmet. They should've taken me away from my parents.

Helmet mess up my hair, that is a no-no !

[Arlon]

Yet you have still not said one specific law/code/policy that limits "freedom".

If already provided one example of succesfull limits. If i as much scream "terrorist at you, your goverment has all the rights it needs to lock you away :-) have fun with the Patriot act.

[Deleted]

Wait, what? The us postal service isn't on the brink of bankruptcy.

EDIT: My numbers were way too conservative. It lost 15.9 billion dollars this year, and 5.2 billion last year. The forecasted losses next year are around 7 billion.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-1...9-billion.html


Even if you exclude the employee health benefits that the USPS had to pre-pay, the losses are still in the billions.

[Catta]

I rode bicykles without a helmet. They should've taken me away from my parents.

I think its mandatory by law in Norway but not in the rest. Crime fucking riders...

[Deleted]

Helmet mess up my hair, that is a no-no !

I may crack my skull and die, but atleast I don't look like a moron.

And no, I can't do the tour de france look, which is the only acceptable one when wearing a bicykle helmet.

[Daelak]

It's going to lose about 7 billion this year. Last year it lost 5.2 billion.

"Oh wait, evil republicans forced them to pay employee health benefits early". Take them away, and they lose only 3 billion a year.

It's written in the constitution, it's a public service. Hence the reason why it only costs 47 cents to send a letter across the f'ing country. Fedex and UPS sub out their rural routes to the USPS to save money, and the USPS cannot say no.

[Bakis]

I may crack my skull and die, but atleast I don't look like a moron.

And no, I can't do the tour de france look, which is the only acceptable one when wearing a bicykle helmet.

In Sweden everyone under the age of 15 are required to wear a helmet, 15+ vanity and lazyness kicks in and noone gives a shit more or less :/

[Daelak]

If already provided one example of succesfull limits. If i as much scream "terrorist at you, your goverment has all the rights it needs to lock you away :-) have fun with the Patriot act.

And you don't think your first world country doesn't do the same to its citizens?

[Bakis]

And you don't think your first world country doesn't do the same to its citizens?

Actually no we dont

[Arlon]

Where are you? Because ACTA was in all 22 EU countries, pretty much every first world country.

Voted down by 478-39 votes in the EU parlament. Even if it would have theoretically passed, theres no way in hell Finland would uphold it.

[Kraenen]

It's going to lose about 7 billion this year. Last year it lost 5.2 billion.

"Oh wait, evil republicans forced them to pay employee health benefits early". Take them away, and they lose only 3 billion a year.

Actually the republicans made the postal office pay into pensions for the next 75 years, within a ten year time frame...And then they complain government doesn't work. lol
If you take that out it's running billions in surplus.

[Roujeaux]

Well, freedom isn't the right to do whatever you want, but the right to do as you should without interference. I don't think America has too much freedom, but has alot of people who don't really understand what freedom is & what they're suppose to do with it. But despite all the shortcomings here, I still would rather live in America than any other country. Having said that, excuse me while I go fuck this pizza up that I just bought, fully exercizing my freedom as an America citizen. *does handrub*

[Arlon]

And you don't think your first world country doesn't do the same to its citizens?

I have no words to express the shitstorm that would follow if this was allowed.

[Catta]

I may crack my skull and die, but atleast I don't look like a moron.

And no, I can't do the tour de france look, which is the only acceptable one when wearing a bicykle helmet.

[semaphore]

What a pointless philosophising OP.

It's always a balance between the different freedoms and needs of the people.

[DieFichte]

And you don't think your first world country doesn't do the same to its citizens?

Nope, why should we? The advantage of storing the terrorists money is, there is not really any threat. (as they don't blow up their bank!)
And our politicians don't even try, there would be a referendum and it would get voted to hell and back, so not gonna happen.

[Raidenx]

We're so free we can afford to give other countries excess freedom through projectiles.

On topic though, aside from a few things pushed through in the last 10 years like the Patriot Act and NDAA, we're one of the freest countries in the developed world. We arguably have the best speech and expression protections, self defense protections, and we have the most diplomatic pull. The drug war is really the only bad thing that effects most of us, and we have much more economic freedom than most of the developed world, and comparable social freedom. I mean, we're 7th in social mobility and don't have the welfare systems to boost the numbers. Most (emphasis on most) people have access to world-class healthcare as well.



pt. 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXOEkj6Jz44