LOL!! I'm not sure where to start with this one...

T. B. - "The United States has become a beacon of freedom to the rest of the world."



That is the "party line" of both the Democrat and Republican Parties, I'm aware. Everyone trumpets how ours is the land of the free.

Only in our own minds, though, not the rest of the world. We strut our stuff before the mirror, telling ourselves how great we are. The only people who repeat it back to us want something.

Well, let me know when we can stop working full time shoving immigrants back over the fence. Some people out there seem to think it's a fairly decent place to be. Haven't noticed people swimming from Florida down to Cuba lately.

...Other countries can more easily see us for what we are. 'Cause the unflattering stuff doesn't get much publicity here, and is basically ignored.

Tell you what, stop listening to the other nation's socialist and totalitarian leadership, and the goons in the U.N., and talk to some actual people. Assuming you can catch them without their "translators" or "observers." There are maybe a total of fifteen average people in the Third World who would not give up an arm if you told them they could become a U.S. citizen the next day.

And if you believe it's free, well, you don't. Try not paying property taxes, or licensing your vehicle, or paying income taxes (unless you're wealthy). Try to just pay for your telephone line, without all the taxes. There goes the phone. Try to purchase something at a building supply center without paying the tax. You won't get it.

There are enough laws that if the government wants to get you they can, and will. The gov't owns you, and cleverly persuades the gullible they are "free".

"Free" country is like "free" speech in the White House. Something for the masses to believe, Orwellian at best. "Free" until you become an irritant.

There is a limited amount of freedom. To travel, but don't try to visit "public parks", such as Yosemite, Yellowstone, and so on, without paying, again. Or stay in a hotel or motel without paying the government for the privilege in the form of more taxes.

Wow!! Get a load of Bowser the Liberal! I've been bitching about stuff like this from day one, and you've been telling me to shut up and put up. "Social responsibility," "The System," and all that. What happened, you get audited yesterday or something? Maybe a libertarian is just a liberal that's been audited, or has written their first check for estimated taxes...

As far as taxes go, you're right of course. Most people would be shocked at how much of their income goes down this rathole. But one point: as for parks, they cost money to run, and if they were privately owned you'd STILL have to pay to get in.

But then we were talking about political freedom, not just freedom from taxes, weren't we?

It is true there can be people like me who dissent politically, but we would be shut up as unpatriotic and treasonous if conservatives had their way. They try do do it now, listen to Cheney. All the makings of a lynch mob.

Notice you're still pumping out the gripes at about twenty thousand words a day. So are a lot of other people who have somehow managed to avoid the horrible repression you insist is there, or hadn't you noticed the endless protests, the editorials, the "Screw Bush" websites, and the political speeches? Still waiting for the Big Crackdown that you keep promising us. Maybe the Lidless Eye of Ashcroft just hasn't found you yet? Keep looking over your shoulder...

And remember, telling someone that their views are asinine is not the same as censorship.