Are we still a free country?

Things have gotten really gotten out of hand. It appears we're no longer free, though like in any unfree country, the vast majority people fair perfectly well. Rampant spying, arrests without due process, even kidnappings and torture, who would have thought our Constitution allowed all that? We are not a free country. Just follow the rules (not the Constitution), and you'll be fine.

Unfortunately, that's precisely what many of the Germans thought in the early 1940's.

He's commenting on how the Bush administration is ignoring the constitution; if they would follow the constitution and the principles on which it was based we would be in a lot better situation. Still screwed probably but not as badly.

Bryant
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their leader gives his speeches, regardless of what their t-shirt or bumper sticker says. In a free country 80,000 people wouldn't be on a watch list for air travel. In a free country you wouldn't have to worry about government thugs more than you do your ordinary generic thug-on-the-street-type criminal.

there would be a transparent election system.

Being a grandmother and great grand mother,Cherokee to boot,I am responsible unto seven generations,I will keep standing up,speaking out and fighting for what is right.Government rolled over the Native Nations one time but once is enough.I stand for the children's rights to a free nation unto seven generations that follow me.

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What exactly about all this is not structured? The NSA didn't just appear, it's there by Presidential order. The Patriot Act didn't just come about, it went through the processes of government, with Senators voting(but not reading) on it and everything. This is the state using its powers. This is corporations paying for the ability to rule. This is establishing order. It may not be the order you feel is right, but it is still order.

I'd say it's anarchy.

Bush isn't actually the president, so we don't technically have a leader, I get it. Or Bush is no leader, so even if he is president, we stll have no leader.

He still has the title of president, they still treat him like the president, he has all the powers of the president, they're running the country like a corporation, we live in a society of hierarchial structure, but it's anarchy because everyone likes to type *, instead of Bush, because somehow that will take his governmental powers away and make us all feel better.

I don't know, to me, we live in a very structured and organized system, which will only grow in such ways(ex., you need a permit to protest in confined and designated areas approved by higher ups). I don't see much anarchy in state terror, or in using giant government agencies to spy on human beings with the help of telecommunication companies, or in changing laws to give more power to concentrated interests.

If I call my cousins in Norway and talk about how much I hate the chimp, I'm going to end up on a terrorist watch list. Or some other list. The pentagons list. That's not free.

more than half a century ago.

I want my country back!!

when you cannot post on DU.

Until then fight the political battles to win power and control.

Do you realize that Bush will no longer be President after 2008 and that in itself means you are still free

I would not put it past BushCo, regardless of whether there's another spectacular domestic terror attack or not, to declare martial law, suspend the Constitution/Bill of Rights & elections, and just remain in power indefinitely.

but apparently Congress doesn't. I wonder frequently HOW BAD and HOW OBVIOUS does it have to get before Congress wakes up and smells the fascism? Does Bush have to start wearing a Nazi uniform & Hitler mustache and give 'Sieg Heil' salutes from the White House balcony? Does the first internment camp have to open up? At what point will Congress grow some balls and act? Hopefully, it's not too late. And I'm not looking forward to the upcoming 'State of the Union' address & watching them all whoopin', cheerin', hollerin', smilin' & slappin' good ol' Dubya on the back as he wends his way to the podium during the required standing ovation when he enters the hall. Frankly, the State of the Union is very perilous.

write letters write letters write letters! Stand on their doorstep!

and we are dancing the Nutcracker right on the brink of it. If somebody would just turn off the damned music we could go home and take off our toe shoes.

Answer: No

Kind of like the Iraqi people under Saddam.. :shrug:

about her Disability medical coverage being cut, her fuel assistance being cut and how much she hates Bush but you have to warn her to be careful what she says on the phone. That's not being free.

It's not freedom when half the people you deal with are Bush supporters, so you limit what you say around them if it has anything to do with the economy, the war, religion, France, Mexico, medical coverage, social security, the news media, Natalie Holloway, Hurricane Katrin, Hurricane Rita, a potential ribbon cutting ceremony with Jeb, the Best Seller List, Persons of the Year, and any other topic that may tread into an area where hitler's kids might report you.

Sometimes I'm amazed DU still stands. I'd die without it.

Everything is for sale.

And what are the rules again? I'll do the best I can.