Is the U.S. Still the Land of the Free?

[xchrom]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-11/is-the-u-s-still-the-land-of-the-free-.html

Daniel Ellsberg, leaker of the Pentagon Papers, wrote a column this week praising Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency contractor whose revelations have cast new light on the extent of the government’s electronic surveillance.

“Obviously,” Ellsberg writes, “the United States is not now a police state.” A few paragraphs further on, he says, “the so-called intelligence community has become the United Stasi of America.”

I’d be more inclined to laugh at Ellsberg’s confusion if I didn’t recognize a little of it in myself -- a fact that startles me, by the way. I’m a U.K. citizen hoping soon to become a U.S. citizen, a lifelong admirer of the American project and its founding principles. But after living here for eight years, I’ve started to wince when I hear the expression, “It’s a free country.”

America’s post-Sept. 11 procedures for dealing with potentially hostile foreigners haven’t helped. “Welcome to America,” say the signs at Dulles International Airport as you line up to have your fingerprints taken. But I’m mainly struck by the weaknesses of the constitutional checks and balances that one thinks of as quintessentially American -- so often, they seem to be failing where they’re needed most. There’s a pattern here, and you don’t need to be an NSA data-miner to see it.

[Solly Mack]

1. K&R

[William769]

2. Kick & recommended.

[geek tragedy]

3. Better question: was America ever the land of the free?

As bad as things are nowadays, it's hard to think of a time when Americans had more freedom.

[William769]

5. I was just thinking about adding this to my response.

Being a Gay man Thats how I feel. I guess I lived with it for so long, it's part of my life.

[geek tragedy]

8. In no way am I defending the NSA stuff, but I do think that people who talk

about the good old days of freedom in the US of A have a pretty myopic view of history and privilege-informed idea of what freedom means.

There isn't a legal adult in the US who was born after Romer v Evans, or Texas vs Lawrence for that matter. That means everyone who's of voting age grew up at least partially during a time when people were criminalized for who they were born as.

[Octafish]

12. Better question for sidetracking discussion, you mean.

As for freedom today: Only for those who can afford it.

[geek tragedy]

16. So you think the US of 1970-2000

was better in terms of freedom for women, GLBT Americans, racial minorities, and the poor?

[dembotoz]

4. been a silly concept for a long time now

[MineralMan]

6. It depends on how you define free.

DU is evidence that we're free to speak our minds. So are websites on the far right. We're not free, of course, to make violent threats or take violent actions that endanger others.

We're free to vote for the candidates we prefer, and elections are held rather frequently. We're even free to run for office ourselves, if that is our choice. We're not free, however, to overthrow our elected government by force.

We're free to worship, even if we worship strange deities. We're free not to worship, if that's our choice, too. We're not free to insist that others worship as we do, though.

Apparently, we're free to purchase and own firearms, if we wish. We're free to criticize the gun culture that has created, too.

We're not free to break most laws without being concerned with possible punishment. We're free to try to get those laws changed, though, if we find them to be unjust. Right now, we're in the process of making marriage equality a fact in states across the country, because we believe that restricting that for some is unjust.

We're free to complain about things as much as we want, as publicly as we desire, and in most ways. We're not free to use violence as a means to complain, though.

Best of all, we're free to ignore those who insist we are not free.

[closeupready]

7. Not as free as we once were.

Still not as bad as China or Saudi Arabia.

[geek tragedy]

9. When were we more free? nt

[closeupready]

10. Lots of things. For example, drinking @ 18. You can be

sent to die in war at that age, but not have a beer. Patriot Act, Citizens United, Reagan firing air traffic controllers, are some other examples.

[geek tragedy]

11. So, the 1970's were the golden years of freedom in the US? nt

[closeupready]

13. More free then than now, yes.

And I can say that - I was there.

[geek tragedy]

15. COINTELPRO was still active in the 1970s.

It was illegal to be GLBT in most states, but sexual harassment was legal.

Tuskegee experiment was active in the 1970s.

Abortion was illegal until 1973.

But, hey, 20 year olds could walk into bars.

[closeupready]

17. You didn't ask if I meant on all metrics.

On some, you are correct. On others, I am.

And...?

[geek tragedy]

18. I asked when we were more free. nt

[closeupready]

19. I gave you my answer. Not sure what you want here.

???

[geek tragedy]

20. Do you really believe all Americans were more free in the 1970s

than they are today? What percentage would you say enjoyed more freedom then than now?

[closeupready]

21. Wow. I am so done here.

Not sure what's going on with you.

[Octafish]

14. The nation's devolved into an open-air prison without walls.

Instead of using its powers to make life better for all Americans, government uses its resources to monitor those who oppose wars for profit.

[ananda]

22. Only if you're a rich or corporate fascist...

...