Decius wrote:
] A society that can face these challenges effectively must
] believe in freedom at it's core. Americans do not believe in
] freedom. (I'll bet I just offended you. GOOD!) Americans
] believe that it ought to be illegal to buy beer after 10:30
] and everyone who rides a bicycle should be forced to wear a
] helmet and you should be fined for practicing golf in a public
] park and 17 year olds should be prohibited from watching
] movies about robots from the future.
]
] The American idea of "freedom" is synonymous with national
] pride. By freedom, Americans really mean American, not free.
] The rubber doesn't really meet the road when it comes to
] practical questions about what government should and should
] not regulate. Americans regulate everything their constitution
] doesn't explicitly prevent them from regulating. No one stands
] up and says we shouldn't have this law because people ought to
] be free to make their own choices and be responsible for
] themselves. No one but the group getting trampled. And such
] arguments are never persuasive when weighed against the
] statistical "good" that regulations achieve.
]
] If people all wear helmets, deaths go down. If childern don't
] see violence, they are less violent. Saving lives is obviously
] more important then some whiney jerk who doesn't want to wear
] a helmet. How trite! Tell him to stuff it! Pass the law!

] A society that truly believes in freedom takes the cost of
] regulation seriously and weighs the necessity of regulation
] gravely. We do not. A society that truly believes in freedom
] regulates as an absolute last resort. We regulate as a first
] resort, and a second resort, and a fifth resort, and a
] fiftieth resort.
]
] And that's what really bothers me about all of this... You're
] going to live in a society where every behavior is controlled
] and enforcement is absolute. It will be legal to hold any
] opinion you want about it, and express that on the internet,
] but it won't matter. No one will listen to you, and there will
] be absolutely nothing that you can do about it, and if you
] really piss people off they'll come for you, as your name,
] address, and phone number will be publically displayed in the
] whois database. But at least you'll know you're free. And
] you'll have a big, fat grin on your face about it. You already
] do.

"Liberty is responsibility. That is why most men dread it." - George Bernard Shaw

Freedom, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Secure Travel Papers