I think if you're from the US you've grown up hearing how much liberty and freedom you have...yet really, how much do people actually have?

Are you free to quit your job? Maybe...but since its pretty hard to save money when you're shelling out 60% to the overall tax burden you probably wouldn't be able to keep a roof over your head and food on your plate for more than 3 months or so.

Do you really own anything? Well, considering you get taxed on your income, investments and land you own, I don't really contend that you do. What good is ownership of a house if the government has the power to just muscle it away from you with tax increases? What good are rights to a speedy trial if you can be held without trial against your will for an indeterminate period of time? What good are rights to privacy if they're mitigated without a warrant? What good is a right to life if you can be drafted into the army and forced into a war you don't support on foreign soil?

In reality what rights and freedoms do we actually have? I mean ####, I just got a copy of my birth certificate and I had to pay money for it. Then I changed my address on my driver's license and had to pay money for that too. Apparently, I don't even *own* the information used to identify *me*.

I'm not sure if its been voted on yet, but at one point there was talk about requiring written consent to leave the country even for American citizens.

Granted, its not quite Orson Well's depiction of Big Brother, complete with video camera's and elimination of thought, but its certainly not the "land of the free, home of liberty" that we've been told it is. At the very least, I think people need to stop confusing "comfortable" with "free". Having a nice couch at home doesn't make you free. Freedom means power and your average citizen has very little.

Discuss .