I, OTOH, have a memory.
And don't just mindlessly chant Nine-Eleven at me.
America is a lot older than that. So am I.
It'll be a sad situation indeed if this time next year, Iraq is freer than the USA. Not sad for the Iraqis; they deserve a good turn after almost thirty years of bloodthirsty dictatorship. Sad for us.
If you're content, sonny, to be nibbled to death by ducks, Fine. I'm not. I've had my fill of bureaucratic BS. I don't accept it as an excuse for anything.
... The basis of my comparison is the America I knew decades ago, boy ...Oh, OK. Then wake up! Shake off your sleep, Rip Van Winkle. The world has matured a little, grown more sophisticated etc. We no longer conflate (if we ever did) political rights and freedoms with simple issues of administrative efficiency. If the department of motor vehicles clerk accidently deletes our vehicle registration information, it does not make us less free--to imply otherwise is simply ludicrous, but you've already come to realize this as you are still young enough to learn, grow, and adapt when exposed to the healing balm of human reason.
The damned ducks are everywhere. We need more birdshot.