You are currently browsing comments. If you would like to return to the full story, you can read the full entry here: “America Closing Her Door to Freedom”.
You are currently browsing comments. If you would like to return to the full story, you can read the full entry here: “America Closing Her Door to Freedom”.
America Closing Her Door to Freedom...
America Closing Her Door to Freedom, by Dr. Douglas Young, Professor of Political Science and History at Gainesville State College.
"Almost half of all U.S. income is taxed today which means we've lost about half our economic freedom. With record go...
"But we've all lost so much liberty. Look how government's neurotic nannies have restricted us with a host of seatbelt, child seat, and helmet laws. Likewise, so many cities and states ban smoking even in private restaurants and bars. A WWII vet can't even light up in his own bar."
Yes, this is the soft despotism that Tocqueville warned us about; but I think it turns hard once it has full control. Look at the harsh treatment of the un-pc on college campuses--speakers heckled, students suspended, groups thrown off campus, disciplinary action noted in permanent files, etc., all for violations of speech codes. The soft, just sweeping away the obstacles before you kind of despotism can turn ugly. I think that is the future if we don't wake up.
Yep, the soft despotism is turning hard quick, and it's real, so I agree, Americans better wake-up fast!
One of the interesting things my colleague points out is the disparity of freedom from today to the freedoms of our youth. I am several years older than Dr. Young and all I can do is shake my head when I speak of various pieces of legislative passed over the last several decades that continue to erode our freedoms, particularly the so called Patriots Act, to my classes who look at me with blank accepting faces. Most of these students have no idea what I am talking about not only because they have never been exposed to any sort of reasonable facimile of what has occurred in even the not too distant past but because most could care less, taking freedom for granted. Government has created a protective cocoon which draws ever tighter around the neck of freedom suffocating free expression in many schools. I relish our institution because there are many like minded thinkers who push liberty as their agenda and not blind acceptance to our benificent rulers. I truly believe that Frank as in Barney, Pelosi, Reid and their ilk should should be horsewhipped. Are they truly so ignorant and blinded by their far left ideaology they cant recognize just what they are doing to our once free country? Can they not see the path they rush headlong down? As Douglas points out, the Founding Fathers are rolling over in their graves. We are truly being lulled into tyranny.
Kerry,
It's amazing to me how many people seem to cherish "the good old days" when neighborhoods were friendlier, streets were safe, etc., etc ...
What they all seem to forget though, is that there were a lot fewer laws too!
The knee-jerk rebuttal to that point of view is, "we have more laws today, because crime is more rampant." My answer to that is, "try looking at the correlation the other way around."
To use the War on Drugs as an example, when drugs weren't illegal, we didn't have militarized gangs selling the stuff, nor militarized police combating them.
The militarization of the drug industry developed in response to the War ... not the other way around. Laws have unintended consequences too.
And so often when you point this out to people, you not only get a blank stare, they actually want to argue with you. Government and media and education...have taught them about all these bogeymen that "the people" must be protected from - global warming, secondhand smoke, asbestos....and of course, the eeeevil "Christian Right."
What I find the funniest about this creeping socialism is that many of the countries that have experienced the "hard" version now want no part of it. I'm talking Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, etc.
It's troubling.
I was sick of my freedoms being taken away by Government, so I ran a search on Google to see if anyone else has notice these incermental changes that has eroded our freedoms over the last 4 decades. We need a compehesive list of all the freedoms lost over years by local, county, state and Federal Goverments in all 50 states. I have had it and I am ready to fight for my freedoms back. Not just for me, but for my childern.
Bob
Bob, I'm with you!
But I don't think we need a list per se ... we've lost so many freedoms, it's almost impossible to count! Sad. Very, very sad.