“Oh really? There’s a certain level of repression that has to be occuring before you care about it?”
— Yes, I care about the oppression if it takes people’s right to empower themselves. If they can’t express their grievances, if they can’t amass support, if they cannot defend themselves, if they cannot vote, then I think they are being oppressed. They might be capable to do all those things and still fail in their attempts and fail to convince enough people to vote for whatever it is they are striving for but they should be free to try.
Marriage between whites and blacks was not illegal. Society broke laws to enforce what the government could not make into law and the government failed to prosecute the criminals who took “justice” into their own hands. So, people were murdered in response to black-white couplings and no one enforced the law against murder. Its quite a different situation then the current one regarding gay marriage.
“I totally disagree, and I think it is absurd to even say it now. You honestly don’t know what would have happened if Gore or Kerry had been president, but I would bet my life it is better than what Bush has done. My very life.”
— Thats why I vote for me and you vote for you.
“I’m not sure that’s necessarily true. He could have married multiple women in one ceremony.”
— Now you are being argumentative for no good reason. You get my point.
“That should be changed, too, but at least all their media isn’t owned by 5 corporations that have about the same opinion on every issue.”
— Except most of the TV news in Europe is owned by the various governments and the newspapers owned by the parties in government. But that has little to suggest their freedom. The fact that the governments of Europe will fine you for expressing certain opinions is an infringement of the freedom of the press.
— So you admit that FOX is not very different from CNN or MSNBC? Freedom of the press means that anyone who can get a hold of a means to expression can use it at their own discretion. We have that in this country to a far higher degree then Europe. Just because most people choose to get their news from only a couple of sources, and that is changing to a very large degree, does not mean the government limiting our freedom of the press. This conversation is one example. We are publishing our opinions and it is open to anyone to read, if they choose.
“That’s called libel, right? We have the same problem here – the company that doesn’t like your story can sue you for libel, and they can outspend you.”
— Not true. In the US, a pretrial hearing usually leads to the dismissal of the case. It is only if there is some possibility that one is making up information to libel the plaintiff then it might go to trial. Otherwise you are free to criticize anyone. It just has to be backed by facts. That is not true of Europe.
“Never said I wanted to move to England.”
— I used England as an example because I lived it. The failure of national health care is nearly universal. Austria is the only country that I have heard of whose system is not headed to bankruptcy.
“We have worse problems, and we are less free.”
— I have been to Europe many times. I speak to many Europeans. I read allot of things coming out of Europe. My opinion is that the above quoted sentence is incorrect.
“I disagree, and I honestly don’t see why anyone would stand up for such a bankrupt principle.”
— I thought you were into freedom. What about the freedom of a business owner to hire and fire whom he chooses? What about the business owners right to buy and sell from and to whom he chooses? seems to me you only like the “feedom” talking points the Left has fed you. Its okay to repress the freedom of business people, those who make this country the opportunity filled place that it has been, while gays, whose gayness produces nothing and gives nothing to society, need freedom.
— When a boss or manager uses their position to make an employee do something, say have sex with them or others, which they do not wish to do, that is a justifiably criminal situation. But, if the boss doesn’t want to hire the woman because he does not want to deal with the temptation, I think that is fair. If the boss does not want blacks in his workplace because he hates them then why should he have deal with a black, day in and day out. I don’t think there is a problem when a businessman decides to fill a niche.
“I notice that civil rights are conspicuously absent from that list of things the government is responsible for doing. You know, we once had a right to privacy in this country. Now, the government can monitor millions of phone calls without just cause and no one can stop them. If they believe you have ties to terrorism, they can ship you off to Syria for torture. The executive branch and the military are more out of control than any other part of our government.”
— Must have been a Freudian slip of the inner recesses of my fascistic mind. Yes, keeping itself from infringing on our civil rights is another role of government.
— You seem not to understand the wire-tapping issue. First off, the Government is allowed to tap into calls made by a Syrian, in Syria, to a Iraqi in Afghanistan if the call is being carried over lines owned by American telecommunications companies. They cannot whisk an American away, while at home, and take him or her to Cuba or where ever and then hold them there indefinitely. A German in Yemen is not protected by the Constitution or the Bill of Rights. I think we need more civilian oversight over what is happening under the wire-tapping system but its not so far from the right mix of oversight to protection. BTW, none of the evidence gleaned by wire-tapping can be used in an American court of law. You are safe.
— Look, you are not a patriot. You don’t care about your tribe, as you say. Family doesn’t mean much to you. What you care about is yourself and being free to do anything you feel like. You project this desire into your politics whose basic premise is, “insist on your right to crap the bed”. I have given you reasons and example enough of my views and they do not suite you. Fine. Its not a problem. Hopefully, for you, you’ll find a skill which earns you enough money to go somewhere where you’ll have all the freedoms you need. Maybe we’ll even elect one of the leftist-fascists the Democrats want to throw at us this election cycle and then the country will get all fixed up and set to be the environment you like.
