originally posted by: Firefly_
I will actively fight for my rights when I need to.
Same for me, but you see that's the thing, right now living in the UK I struggle to see any rights I am missing which need fighting over.
I can live wherever I like, I can choose any employment, training, or more education if I so wish.
I can believe in anything I like, my son has enjoyed excellent education in a free state school, even though I could have chosen to home school if I
had wanted, I was free to make the choice.
I can light fires in my yard as long as I don't piss my neighbours off, I can leave my grass go brown and there are no ordinances threatening fines.
Our schools are free to raise money through bake sales, children are allowed to sell lemonade from their front gardens (although that is a more US
thing) they are still allowed. I'm even allowed to be buried in my own garden when I die without asking permission from anyone unless there is a risk
it might pollute a nearby water source.
If I get sick or injured I get fixed by the NHS which asks me for no money at the point of need. OK, because of my income I have to pay £7.00 for any
drug prescription, regardless of the cost of the drug itself...a big fat £7.00, wow.
I can walk naked on a nudist beach not far from my home, there are a few in the UK, although I avoid them myself.
I can leave the country freely, and as a UK national can enjoy freedom to live, travel, and work in a further 25 European countries with no
requirement for visa's or permits.
I can stand for election in any level of government, from local councillor to MEP or MP, and I can shout and rant any rubbish I want in public at a
local 'speakers corner' - aside from incitement to hatred and/or violence.
Hell, even the cops are pretty chilled in my corner of the SW coast of England, in the summer there are less than 20 arresting officers available for
every 100,000 people, and around 100 per 100,000 in the winter - no tyranny down here, they are forced to police us through being friendly and
sensible, especially as only a few actually carry tazers/pepper spray, the single baton most of them have is drawn as a last resort usually - and I
don't remember the last time I heard of anyone in my area being beaten up at the hands of police brutality (Here's a thread I authored about exactly
that:
Is it police numbers or a nice environment that keeps the peace, or is it just a
crazy mix?) The last time the cops shot anyone was in London, and that sparked rioting, so rare it actually is that they call the armed response
units to a situation.
Or maybe you think that because I can only obtain a shotgun or rifle license then that is an example of how I'm not free? Oh noes, I can't own an
AR15!! Why the # do I need one in the UK? Our crim's
mostly just shoot each other, and I'm at more risk of being struck by lightning in the
UK (about 60 people per year) than shot dead, around 50 per year.
So no, until or unless I see some tyrannical situation that makes me feel I should demonstrate about, I don't see the horrors of the perception of
freedom I have in my part of the UK. Maybe I'm just missing something and really I'm some sort of slave as you apparently feel you are, but I have
no debts or credit cards, and haven't atually used any plastic to pay for anything in over a decade - cash is still more than acceptable for
everything in the UK.
On a side note, for all the US claims of us Brits being peasant worker subjects of The Crown which I see so often on ATS, I actually think we are much
more free than you guys, what with police brutality, bans on bake sales, fines for brown grass, and all the rest of it.
I actually have no intentions to ever visit the US after every friend of mine who has, came back with stories of aggressive and scary border guards,
and hostile aggressive police. Couple that with the multitude of topics about US police brutality it's no wonder you feel less free than I do.