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re: those lists
So then, I guess since I don't smoke anything that's illegal (yet, anyway) or have any desire to marry another female, this is the best place for me.
I don't think it's very obvious at all. I think thats the way it works out at the moment, but why would our economic freedoms be hurt in this country by allowing people to live the way they wanted?
re: those lists
So then, I guess since I don't smoke anything that's illegal (yet, anyway) or have any desire to marry another female, this is the best place for me.
What the best place for you is subject to what you care about, but that doesn't mean you enjoy a larger level of freedom here.
The only place you can be 100% free is on a little island all by yourself.
free yesThe only place you can be 100% free is on a little island all by yourself.
have feedom no
True. And anarchy is not what I'd want either way; there is a very real and nessecary place for laws. But it's the unessecary restrictions on freedom that I don't like. I don't think striving for a society without unessecary freedom restrictions is a bad goal.The only place you can be 100% free is on a little island all by yourself.
I would agree with that. Who, do you feel, should establish those guidelines?Morality, in my opinion, has to do with a set of guidelines on how to live; regardless of how specific or broad.
o....Does government have the right to determine when I can be married and where? no, the bible has no right to impose on my rights as a private citizen. I'm not gay, and I am a Chrisitian, but I have no friggin right to tell anyone when and where they can be married, and neither does government
What restrictions are placed upon people for "when" they can marry, with which you disagree?
Last edited by Guru of Nothing; 06-13-2005 at 06:43 PM.
More freedom? What kind of freedom? The freedom to tax the citizens to death (Sweden)? The freedom to never have to "pay" for medical care (UK)?
You're right on a democracy.
But we're not a democracy in the US.
We're a republic.
And republics are about majority rule.
Source?
Hmmm...Amnesty International? Socialist Workers Front? Moveon.org?
Freedom from Literacy, apparently
Check the thread again, and you'll see sources. And some of those countries are higher both in economic and social freedoms, so apparently the taxation isn't worse than it is here.
I see, so we spread democracy around the world but not at home. Don't hit me with a technicality about what type of government we run. If you are dense to not see the protection of the minority writen into our cons ution then I'm not going to bother with you any further.
The majority does not always rule. If the majority wanted slavery today it would still be illegal. Why, I wonder?
Three day waiting period for a blood test?
You cited no sources in your post, Manny. Why so angry?
I'm sorry, I did not mean to be technical with someone who's clearly angry with the US. I'll drop the topic of what kind of government we have in the US. Clearly, the distinction is not something that's within the realm of comprehension for a liberal-leaning person.
According to Freedom House the US is one of the best in terms of Civic Power and Electoral Politics.
http://freedomhouse.org/research/fre.../essay2005.pdf
Actually, I'm angry with ignorant dolts like yourself who think that we live in a society of majority rule and majority rule alone. Whatever you want to classify our government as, we have a built in system to protect the minority.
Example: Majority wants gay marriage banned and keeps getting bills passed in states. Yet, courts keep overturning these laws.
I'm also tired with the "we live on the best place on earth" line. American's are under the assumption that we live in Disneyland and think that freedom is some extension and privellage granted to you by government. The fact is that government is the main culprit in taking away freedom in any society and this government is no different. Do not take this arguement and turn it into something it is not. I am not saying that I would rather live in an oppressive dictatoriship in some third world country.
What I'm trying to point out is that there is plenty we can learn from other countries who have high levels of freedom that in some ways surpass those of this country. You're at ude is a HUGE problem to me because it is the main culprit in allowing the American people to remain complacent with the society and government they have in place.
Everyone is so busy smoking the American Dream they can't notice how much of what they think we stand for has already been eroded or is in the process of being eroded.
And as for the sources, they are there. Read the thread. And as for being liberal leaning, what is more conservative than smaller government? Your majority rule philosophy is much more liberal than anything I am saying.
That's one example; others are requirements for supermajorities in some cir stances and allowances for things like filibusters.
If you want the purest example of why we don't live in a nation of majority rule, you need only look at the electoral college and realize that (as has happened before) a candidate can win the Presidency without receiving a majority of the votes cast in the election.
James Madison, who knew a bit more about what the Cons ution and this form of government was intended to accomplish, wrote specifically in Federalist No. 51, that the American form of government would ensure that the minority would not be subject to the tyranny of the majority. Somehow, I guess some believe that Madison didn't really know what he was talking about.
And by the way, we have a republican form of government, but it is a representative republic, and actually, a representative democracy. Were this truly a "majority rules" society, there would be little need for Congress except as a rubber stamp for the will of the national majority. I'm sure some are disappointed by this thought, but that was never the way Congress was intended to function.
And then there are those pesky Courts, which shouldn't ever interfere with Congressional lawmaking, even if Congress or a state legislature enacts law that contravenes Cons utional rights, I guess.
heres the way to look at it.
personal freedom doesnt mean that we have a free market economy and the government can restrict what you smoke, drink, watch, , and read.
yet also, personal freedom doesnt mean that you can smoke, drink, watch, , and read what you want while the government taxes and regulates the economy to death.
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