Is the U.S. still 'the land of the free' today?

we still have some freedoms, some we gave away due to fear of terrorists, some are withheld from many in society. As long as we have career politicians with out term limits we will have a government made up of old rich white guys and idiots. sad but true. we are very far away from what the founding father's planned we would be

Our core principles still exist. But we citizens need to remind our elected leaders of those rights, as they seem to continually want to take more and more from us.

i did not insult you, and yes i know people looking for work. i can also remember it taking me a year and a half after getting my masters to find a good job. meanwhile i sold guaranteed 5 yr light bulbs over the phone in the evenings and worked the morning shift at McDonald's and then worked 24 hrs a day four days a week in a daytime secretarial job and then a double shift at an answering service. i know malls that have been boarded up since the 80's and businesses that have closed through out my life time. I remember terrible stock market crashes in the 80's that wiped out people's retirement funds. My point is that everything you are referencing is just business as usual in life. No one gets a free ride. there are jobs out there, but most people don't want them. but you have to pay your dues sometimes a few times. And whether you want to believe it or not the fact is that the stock market has being doing better, unemployment s down, jobs available are up, crime is less than it was 8 years ago, the economy is better and life by and large is much better.

i would suggest you look at http://www.factcheck.org/2016/01/obamas-numbers-january-2016-update/

Mustang, I agree, but we probably should stop calling the "leaders" and call them representatives. They are supposed to be representing the voters, not giving them 6 figure retirement and lifelong healthcare, and to have them tell us what we need.
They only seem to interested in gaining personal power and money.

Sladycae: "before i could talk on the phone and emails without someone intercepting them and decided if i was a terrorist." But could you? Programs that did just that have been instituted since the 50's, both during wartime and peace. We just didn't talk about it all day long.

" i could speak my mind without being put on a watch list." But could you? There have been watch lists at least since the McCarthy area and communism. And anti-Semitic watch lists, and white supremacists watch lists...

I hear what you're saying, and I agree America is a great country, but the fact is, our government has been hard at work for decades upon decades ensuring domestic tranquility via any means they thought appropriate. We just didn't all care so much or didn't know. We no longer worry that that might have overheard a casserole recipe; we rant about our civil liberties. We demand all information instantaneously, but the truth is we are neither privy to all information nor should it be available at a moment's notice to anyone in the world who wants it. Governments need to function; issues need to be handled. Surreptitious is not the same thing as classified. We have as many freedoms as ever and so long as it's not dictated what we have to say on a phone call, the only people who should worry are those having conversations they shouldn't.

To stereoguy-One of it's correspondence made editorial comment regarding the Obama admin.
The economy is better than it was when the President took office.The war in Iraq, although not over, saw most of Americans coming back. Employment is up and unemployment is down and he gave specific data to support that.And the stock market is up. He gave proof also. He gave some other positive statistics but I cannot recall them. This wasn't a politician and had nothing to gain by exaggerating. These were the FACTS

bcvegas4u, you are right. I need to remember to NOT call them leaders, so thank you for that. Our government is supposed to be "of the people, by the people, and for the people." Professional politicians were ever intended to be part of that, but that's what we have today.

And has anyone ever noticed how so many of our elected representatives, who have never held any job outside of government, are quite wealthy? How did that happen? Does anyone know?

If you are a Christan republican apparently. But if not we're pretty screwed

i agree we have many freedoms other countries do not have. but before i could talk on the phone and emails without someone intercepting them and decided if i was a terrorist. i could speak my mind without being put on a watch list. I know there other freedoms we have given up. however that said i really think the USA is the best country in which to live in spite of our issues.

[quote]yes that was when we gave up a lot of our freedom in the name of fear/security which led to all the wiretapping etc through the patriot act.[/quote]

That's certainly part of it. Too much data collecting for "bringing people to justice" purposes instead of tackling the problems by the root.

Like raking up dead leaves instead of chopping down the dangerous diseased tree.

bcvegas4u, and those "common folk" elected representatives knew about what they were trying to regulate. The farmer knew about farming, and could expertly advise on farming. The store owner knew about running a business. Pretty sure not very many in Congress today drive tractors when they're not in session, but they have no problem telling those that do how to do it.

That was why it was representative. A banker, next to a store owner, next to a farmer......and so on. Oh, yeah, I forgot those lawyers, too.
Anyway, they were the "common folk". Not professional politicians. And when they were through, they went back to work. Maybe at a better position because of their knowledge, but they didn't go to work as consultants to those they regulated.

Yes we are still a country with freedom.

OH COME OFF IT, stereo. Congress has been filled with career politicians for 60 years or more. The system has been rigged for many years. Don't blame the President for things Congress has created long before he got there. THEY are the ones profiting from all the legislating that has been pushed threw.

you know i have found something interesting. when you present true, checkable facts to concervatives, they never give you facts back, they attack you personally. One thing i have learned is that when the rebuttal is an insult instead of corroborating evidence it means there is no evidence and you are 100% right.

I'm 30 and I've seen. We're trending more authoritarian. I think European nations are as well. People in power thinking that only they know best and using national security as an excuse for it all - without actually doing anything serious about the national security dangers.

It started after 9/11/01.

ladycae, I agree with everything you said except for the old rich white guys part. But the rest I'm with you on. Term limits would be one of the best things that could ever happen in my opinion.

yes that was when we gave up a lot of our freedom in the name of fear/security which led to all the wiretapping etc through the patriot act.

It depends on where you live and how much money you have.

for a little longer, although it's falling apart at the core.

My own thoughts is a society can be judged by the 3 pillars:

Justice, equality and fraternity

A country scoring high on all 3 is more utopian in theory...

Judging the USA across these pillars will yield interesting results...

Mostly.

Every country has become the 'land of the PC slaves'. There are no lands of the free. But there are people all over the world not taking this bullsh*t any more.

I just remembered. After 2008 we came out of the recession. That happened during his admin.

that's just a saying.


nothing's changed... just now the age of information is as vast as ever.

We have more freedoms than many countries. We have always been free, are free now and will continue that way. This "Our freedoms are being taken away" is utter, imbecilic bull***t. Look around. What can you not do today that you had free reign to do 10 years ago? Only those things we willingly handed over to the government after 9/11.

It wasn't just a saying when I was growing up.

Nothing has changed.

To ladycae-Thank you for the excellent summary you gave.I will cjeck out that site. I believe that's where I got my info but I had forgotten.
http://www.factcheck.org/2016/01/obamas-numbers-january-2016-update/