What ever happened to "Land of the Free?"

You walk up to a random member of the unwashed masses, and you ask this person, "Is America the greatest country on Earth?" Chances are, their response will be, "Yes! This is the land of the free." People are so indoctrinated with these "America is great" catchphrases that they don't see all the morons that are actively seeking to undermine everyone else's freedom and security. If this sounds like someone you know, here are some counterexamples to the "America is the Land of the Free" idea found in our own country.

Abortion rights? Not for long!

Christian conservatives piss away millions of dollars every year^[1], trying to make it illegal for a woman to terminate a pregnancy before the fetus develops a nervous system, and therefore before it is capable of suffering. Even in cases of rape or incest, or in cases where the pregnancy will kill the woman, they want the government to force the woman to mother a child that she doesn't want and, in most cases, won't be able to provide for.

An irrefutable example of the lack of religious freedom in the United States of America is the discrimination against the nonreligious. There are several states in which an atheist is not allowed to hold office^[2]. The Boy Scouts, a taxpayer-funded organization, also discriminates against atheists and agnostics (gays and women, too)^[3].

If you're a religious nut, you're probably thinking, "What's the problem?" The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment prohibits the establishment of a national religion by the Congress or the preference of one religion over another, or religion over non-religion.

According to the Protect Marriage website, "Gays have a right to their private lives, but not to change the definition of marriage for everyone else."^[4] This is awfully presumptuous, and immeasurably stupid.

Marriage is subjective. What your marriage and what your neighbors' marriage mean aren't necessarily the same thing. None of the gay people I talk to are trying to change the definition of your marriage. If your marriage become meaningless the second two women can live together happily for the rest of their lives, your marriage is vapid to begin with.

Another example of immense stupidity is the idea that by denying gays and lesbians the right to marry, they're "protecting" marriage. They suggest that by allowing gays to marry, marriage becomes devalued. The implication of this idea is that the love that gay people experience is less than the love that straight people experience. I've yet to see any evidence (other than anecdotal, which amounts to nothing) to support or refute this claim, but it smells like bullshit to me.

The infuriating irony is that a pure "free market" economy enslaves the middle class. Without regulation, working 14-hour days on an $8,000/year salary with one day off per week (Sundays, of course) and no vacation, no worker's compensation, and no health benefits isn't a stretch of the imagination.

Pure socialism isn't much better, but because Americans have been indoctrinated into a fear of socialism since the days of McCarthyism, it will always be regarded as worse. As long as we hate socialism, we'll settle for shit.

Here's a novel idea: Let's disarm everyone so they can't defend their homes, their children, or themselves. Brilliant.

Psychopaths and criminals shouldn't be allowed to carry weapons. I understand that, but the cops can't protect everyone. Sometimes, people need to take some personal responsibility for their own safety. If you disarm the public, you'll have armed criminals free to act with impunity as long as the cops aren't there to protect the people.

And what about that, "It's the right of the people to overthrow an unjust government" thing? If the government never needs to fear a revolution from the masses, they'll keep shoving the proverbial dick further into the ass of the working man.