By that definition, the citizens of Nazi Germany were free.
What you want is a society that has NO RULES. That society is called Anarchy, and it binds everyone that it touches to the law of the jungle rather than to the polite rules of civilization.
No sir. You are very wrong.
- From the Declaration of Independance
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed
- From the Bill of Rights
Amendment IX
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Amendment X
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
My point to you was that you are free, or at least, that I am free to do what I want.
Yes, just as Henry Ford's customers were free to choose any color they liked, as long as it was black. Just as the citizens of Stalinist Russia were free to travel wherever they liked, so long as they had the appropriate paperwork.
In contrast, you want to claim that you aren't free because you can't do those things in the *manner* that you want.
No, the points I have raised are all things that are completely prohibited are are not allowed in any manner. Further, there is no barrier against further loss of freedoms. (Here's a hint: That's why FreeRepublic exists--to try and combat the loss of liberty that previously was protected by the Constitution and the courts.
You want your drugs without prescriptions, for instance. You want your guns on planes that you don't even own, for another.
You apparently did not read what I posted: until a drug has been approved by the FDA it is not legal for a doctor to prescribe it or for a pharmacist to dispense it, even though the drug is being manufactured and for sale in other countries. And it is not the owners of the planes that have asked me not to carry a gun--if they chose to do so, that would be their right. But the government--which does not own the planes--has told the owners that they cannot allow passengers to carry weapons. There is a big difference.
So to you, if you aren't free to drive the wrong way down a 1 way street, then you aren't "free", but to me, so long as I can get to everywhere that I want to drive by simply following rules, then I am free.
False analogy. And despite what you've been taught by the Left, repeating it ad nausem does not make it true.
That's an enormous difference in perspective (and it is a difference that separates the 1% of society's radicals from the 99% mainstream).
As I said before, this is the Left's greatest triumph to date: they have successfully convinced Americans that we do not live in a socialist society, all evidence to the contrary.
You know, there is a reason why people like Nancy Pelosi, Noam Chompsky, and all the leftist, anti-war protesters are the first and loudest to scream the word "Democracy". They understand that an unconstrained democracy is free to make any law, pass any regulation and impose any burden on its people and still claim to be a free society. After all, you are still free to go where you want, do what you want and say what you want, as long as you follow society's rules.
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