Very adroitly put. No - that is NOT persecution.
I've seen persecution up close and personal, and given the lukewarm and watered-down theology of most of American Christianity - I seriously fear whether or not most professing Christians here will hold onto their faith and endure to the end.
There is a MONSTER difference between head-konwledge and remembering that knowledge and your faith when miserable, sick, starving and being beaten to death and watching those you love being beaten.
Make no mistake - persecution IS coming. The skids for institutionalized persecution IS being laid and then the brutal part kicks in shortly thereafter.
Big difference, Americans are ARMED to the teeth.