We in the US have an illusion of "freedom". True, we can criticize our government, but not to the point where it feels threatened.

We have to pay taxes on "our" cars, or can't drive them. On the fuel, too. And possess driver's licenses which have to be shown to any cop who demands to see it. Or be beaten up, tasered, locked up, maybe shot.

We have to pay taxes on "our" houses, or they will be taken away, at gunpoint if necessary. So much for the myth of "private property".

Our conversations are tapped. We can be imprisoned indefinitely without representation or even charges upon the whim of the President.

It's true some countries are worse. And, sadly, a lot are better. Those with untrammeled human rights, those with health care as a right, not just for the privileged, for instance.

A lot of this is true. Some of it is just hallucination. Can you pick out which items are actually happening? Which are actual real-world policies, and most importantly, under which philosophy those policies originated? When it was decided that only the state could provide certain things, and therefore extra taxes were necessary to fund them?

An aside: Point to that nation other than our own with "untrammelled human rights." Do they have a Bill of Rights? Freedom of speech and the press? How many of them have REAL laws against criticizing the government, as opposed to imaginary ones?

And slaves get free health care, Bowser. So do zoo animals. It's not a major signpost of freedom.