America drops to #10 in the list of the freest Nations on Earth

You all realize that to have a government means to relinquish your freedom in order to have someone rule over you.

So the less free? Who cares even if my Canada is #6, it's all slavery. They convince us that we're not smart enough to govern ourselves. They've convinced us that being 'good' is not an innate quality shared by all humans so they make up laws and create oppressive forces to keep us "in line". They've convinced us that happiness equates to money, they've branded us with a number, brainwashed us into taking pride in doing work we hate while they steal our hard earned rewards at the end of the week leaving us with crumbs and then saying we should be grateful for what's left. Finally we get home from work, sit in front of the television, shut off our minds ensuring we live a comatose life, never questioning they decisions. But of course they offer you a choice, red or blue, and you fight and kill over their words which mean the same thing.

All the citizens of these countries are on par with each other's freedom, that is to say, none of them are free. This thread is pointless.

So I wonder what country would have the distinction of having the most 'personal feedom', the right and ability to exist unhindered as one sees fit (as long as one doesn't cause verifiable and substantial damage to another).

Is there an equivalant to the Heritage foundations assesment of corporate/economic 'freedom' that details an assessment of 'personal' freedom for citizens of The Empire, er...the U.S.?

Originally posted by DarthMuerte
With the patriot act and ndaa section 1031, I don't see how we can even be considered "mostly free". We have only the illusion of freedom right now.

I guess if you have the illusion of freedom, then they're mostly doing it right.

If you can go about your daily life and not bump into anything that they prevent you from doing, then you might as well be free. Anytime your "freedoms" are restricted, it's mostly their way of telling you to stop being such a D-bag.

I bought my car and you're trying to tell me I can't do what I want with it? I want to weld spikes all over my car. You're being a D-bag. Don't do that.

What do you mean I can't pour toxic waste into a lake? It's my lake, I can do what I want with it. You're being a D-bag. Don't do that.

Now, I say mostly doing it right because there are laws that don't really make a huge amount of sense to me. Chances are that there is some group of people somewhere saying, "if you do that, then you're just being a D-bag."

Here's a quick test. Are you trying to screw someone or find some sort of "angle" or something of the like? Stop. You're probably being a D-bag.

I guess we just need to restrict "freedoms" until people can learn how to not be selfish.

I'm surprised you scored that high - even if it is only based on economic freedom. I've been under the assumption that the US was bankrupt and has been for some time. Maybe no one told you yet.

Originally posted by Tecumte
So I wonder what country would have the distinction of having the most 'personal feedom', the right and ability to exist unhindered as one sees fit (as long as one doesn't cause verifiable and substantial damage to another).

Antartica? Some Polynesian Island without a flag on it?

If you want to be free these days, you need to form your own country and be willing to fight for it.

Originally posted by yourmaker

Originally posted by Tecumte
So I wonder what country would have the distinction of having the most 'personal feedom', the right and ability to exist unhindered as one sees fit (as long as one doesn't cause verifiable and substantial damage to another).

Antartica? Some Polynesian Island without a flag on it?

If you want to be free these days, you need to form your own country and be willing to fight for it.

Doh! I was afraid someone was going to say that. And I thought we already tried that here a few hundred years ago and that is what our kids are still fighting and dying for over in the big sandbox. I see it all the time on bumber stickers and hear it from the lips of politicians routinely. I'm starting to get a sneaky suspicion maybe someone's fudging a little.

Originally posted by Mayson

Originally posted by DarthMuerte
With the patriot act and ndaa section 1031, I don't see how we can even be considered "mostly free". We have only the illusion of freedom right now.

I guess if you have the illusion of freedom, then they're mostly doing it right.

If you can go about your daily life and not bump into anything that they prevent you from doing, then you might as well be free. Anytime your "freedoms" are restricted, it's mostly their way of telling you to stop being such a D-bag.

I bought my car and you're trying to tell me I can't do what I want with it? I want to weld spikes all over my car. You're being a D-bag. Don't do that.

What do you mean I can't pour toxic waste into a lake? It's my lake, I can do what I want with it. You're being a D-bag. Don't do that.

Now, I say mostly doing it right because there are laws that don't really make a huge amount of sense to me. Chances are that there is some group of people somewhere saying, "if you do that, then you're just being a D-bag."

Here's a quick test. Are you trying to screw someone or find some sort of "angle" or something of the like? Stop. You're probably being a D-bag.

I guess we just need to restrict "freedoms" until people can learn how to not be selfish.

Actually I'd say probably more 'freedoms' than not are simply enacted for the comfort and ease and profit of those who paid to have them put in place, in the first place, for their own benefit.Taking away one's freedom to increase another's gain is as old as humanity itself. I tend to see most of the benefits of the millions of volumes of unknowable laws and the power and wealth it transfers actually ending up in the hands of the selfish themselves.

Originally posted by Mayson

Originally posted by DarthMuerte
With the patriot act and ndaa section 1031, I don't see how we can even be considered "mostly free". We have only the illusion of freedom right now.

I guess if you have the illusion of freedom, then they're mostly doing it right.

If you can go about your daily life and not bump into anything that they prevent you from doing, then you might as well be free. Anytime your "freedoms" are restricted, it's mostly their way of telling you to stop being such a D-bag.

I bought my car and you're trying to tell me I can't do what I want with it? I want to weld spikes all over my car. You're being a D-bag. Don't do that.

What do you mean I can't pour toxic waste into a lake? It's my lake, I can do what I want with it. You're being a D-bag. Don't do that.

Now, I say mostly doing it right because there are laws that don't really make a huge amount of sense to me. Chances are that there is some group of people somewhere saying, "if you do that, then you're just being a D-bag."

Here's a quick test. Are you trying to screw someone or find some sort of "angle" or something of the like? Stop. You're probably being a D-bag.

I guess we just need to restrict "freedoms" until people can learn how to not be selfish.

Sort of like.....

My neighbor is a mean old woman so I tell her so - Stop! You're being a D-Bag
I don't like chlorine or fluoride in my water so I dig a well - Stop! You're being a D-Bag
I don't like giving half my paycheck to the Entergy Company so I install solar panels - Stop! You're being a D-Bag
I don't like giving the other half of my check to the grocery store for the substances they tell me are food so I raise chickens and goats - Stop! You're being a D-Bag.

My point? It's not illegal to be a "douche" and if it were, who gets to decide?

The only freedom any of us has ever had was the freedom to live until we die.

You add religion,and you don't even have that,all you have is an ultimatum.

After reading this thread,it becomes apparent that many in here don't even really know what freedom is anyway.

Freedom is about doing what you want to do,considering you don't inhibit/infringe the freedom of another.

FreeDumb is what most of the U.S. enjoys.

Maybe just dumb.

The freer one is,the less one has,capitalism inhibits freedom,property inhibits freedom,laws inhibit freedom.

Freedom is being able to do what one desires to do without considering cost.

I could go on,but what's the point?.

Originally posted by 1BornPatriot
As you would expect - we are no longer considered a free nation - we are now in the "Mostly Free"catagory ..
the question I have is why two decades ago they started this rating system... ???? to chart the progress of the NWO ... ?

U.S. Drops to the Tenth Freest Nation on Earth: Now Listed as Mostly Free
March 16th, 2012
By Dr. Harold Pease

For nearly two decades the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal have teamed-up tracking and rating the 184 nations of the earth on economic freedom. In their 2012 ratings “Hong Kong and Singapore finished first and second in the rankings for the 18th straight year. Australia and New Zealand ranked third and fourth, and Switzerland fifth. Canada finished sixth, … falling out of the group of ‘free’ economies into the ‘mostly free’ category;” a fall made by the United States in 2010. The U.S. also slipped from a three-way tie for ninth place last year to tenth place today. Even Mauritius, taking eighth, a small island off the coast of Africa, was seen as more economically free than we, as were Chile and Ireland taking seventh and ninth.

The 484-page rather complex document, rated countries in ten types of freedom: labor, business, trade, fiscal, government spending, monetary, investment, financial, property, and freedom from corruption. These ten then were evaluated on the basis of “the rule of law, the intrusiveness of government, regulatory efficiency, and the openness of free markets.” A country’s overall score was the average of these categories.


The average economic freedom score for the world dropped two-tenths of a point from 2011, primarily because countries tried to spend their way out of recession and failed. “Rapid expansion of government, more than any market factor, appears to be responsible for flagging economic dynamism. Government spending has not only failed to arrest the economic crisis, but also—in many countries—seems to be prolonging it. The big-government approach has led to bloated public debt, turning an economic slowdown into a fiscal crisis with economic stagnation fueling long-term unemployment,” they concluded.

source

edit on 27-10-2012 by 1BornPatriot because: (no reason given)

This is semi ridiculous. How can Hong Kong be considered free? Off on that one by a Hong Kong mile.

Ireland? Chile?

There goes the credibility of this list.

The former shackled to the dystopian EU unelected bureaucrats makes it especially laughable.

For most of our history we were the freest nation on earth with no significant competition resulting in our people becoming the most abundant ever.

And there goes the credibility of the article's editor. Oops.

The elites what World Whack 3!!

Freedom to me is the absence of being enslaved by self or others.

I'm working on not being enslaved by self as best as I can.

Meanwhile others it appears are working tirelessly to enslave me.

reply to post by 1BornPatriot


WOW number 10?
im shocked!
i cant believe they are so high up!

Originally posted by HomeyDevincenzi

Originally posted by 1BornPatriot
As you would expect - we are no longer considered a free nation - we are now in the "Mostly Free"catagory ..
the question I have is why two decades ago they started this rating system... ???? to chart the progress of the NWO ... ?

U.S. Drops to the Tenth Freest Nation on Earth: Now Listed as Mostly Free
March 16th, 2012
By Dr. Harold Pease

For nearly two decades the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal have teamed-up tracking and rating the 184 nations of the earth on economic freedom. In their 2012 ratings “Hong Kong and Singapore finished first and second in the rankings for the 18th straight year. Australia and New Zealand ranked third and fourth, and Switzerland fifth. Canada finished sixth, … falling out of the group of ‘free’ economies into the ‘mostly free’ category;” a fall made by the United States in 2010. The U.S. also slipped from a three-way tie for ninth place last year to tenth place today. Even Mauritius, taking eighth, a small island off the coast of Africa, was seen as more economically free than we, as were Chile and Ireland taking seventh and ninth.

The 484-page rather complex document, rated countries in ten types of freedom: labor, business, trade, fiscal, government spending, monetary, investment, financial, property, and freedom from corruption. These ten then were evaluated on the basis of “the rule of law, the intrusiveness of government, regulatory efficiency, and the openness of free markets.” A country’s overall score was the average of these categories.


The average economic freedom score for the world dropped two-tenths of a point from 2011, primarily because countries tried to spend their way out of recession and failed. “Rapid expansion of government, more than any market factor, appears to be responsible for flagging economic dynamism. Government spending has not only failed to arrest the economic crisis, but also—in many countries—seems to be prolonging it. The big-government approach has led to bloated public debt, turning an economic slowdown into a fiscal crisis with economic stagnation fueling long-term unemployment,” they concluded.

source

edit on 27-10-2012 by 1BornPatriot because: (no reason given)

This is semi ridiculous. How can Hong Kong be considered free? Off on that one by a Hong Kong mile.

What do you know of Hong Kong? Have you ever been there? I am in America right now and you think you are free??? You have no idea what freedoms people who live in Hong Kong enjoy, whether economically (very free) or personal, I live in Asia between, Hong Kong, Thailand and Philipinnes (business in all three) and I can tell you that Asia is far more free than the USA or Europe for that matter!

People through the word communism around like it means something or rules China - It does not, in name only but China is one of the most capitalistic countries out there, that is why they are the worlds biggest trade/manufacturing centre!

The biggest problem with most Americans is that they rarely travel overseas and have no knowledge other than their own preconceptions and then make statements like yours above!

Originally posted by Larrelye

Originally posted by Mayson

Originally posted by DarthMuerte
With the patriot act and ndaa section 1031, I don't see how we can even be considered "mostly free". We have only the illusion of freedom right now.

I guess if you have the illusion of freedom, then they're mostly doing it right.

If you can go about your daily life and not bump into anything that they prevent you from doing, then you might as well be free. Anytime your "freedoms" are restricted, it's mostly their way of telling you to stop being such a D-bag.

I bought my car and you're trying to tell me I can't do what I want with it? I want to weld spikes all over my car. You're being a D-bag. Don't do that.

What do you mean I can't pour toxic waste into a lake? It's my lake, I can do what I want with it. You're being a D-bag. Don't do that.

Now, I say mostly doing it right because there are laws that don't really make a huge amount of sense to me. Chances are that there is some group of people somewhere saying, "if you do that, then you're just being a D-bag."

Here's a quick test. Are you trying to screw someone or find some sort of "angle" or something of the like? Stop. You're probably being a D-bag.

I guess we just need to restrict "freedoms" until people can learn how to not be selfish.

Sort of like.....

My neighbor is a mean old woman so I tell her so - Stop! You're being a D-Bag
I don't like chlorine or fluoride in my water so I dig a well - Stop! You're being a D-Bag
I don't like giving half my paycheck to the Entergy Company so I install solar panels - Stop! You're being a D-Bag
I don't like giving the other half of my check to the grocery store for the substances they tell me are food so I raise chickens and goats - Stop! You're being a D-Bag.

My point? It's not illegal to be a "douche" and if it were, who gets to decide?

edit on 29-10-2012 by Larrelye because: (no reason given)

Who gets to decide? Some combination of the constitution, your elected officials, and the general consensus of the populace as a whole. If enough of those things disagree with what you're doing, then stop you're being a D-bag.

If everyone in the city agrees that they don't want livestock sitting around and they're going to get all their food from the store and you think to yourself, "I'm so smart. I'm not gonna be like them. I'm going to fill my apartment with goats." Stop. You're being a Dbag.

Now, by douchebag I didn't mean that you were being mean. I said so already, but I used it for effect and I stick by what I said before. If you're not trying to be a dbag then, if things are set up right, the average person won't even notice that they've lost any freedoms and that's how it should be.

A HORSE FOR MY KINGDOM!!

Anything in the name of safety!

I find it interesting that most of those countries that are freer than the US also have socialized healthcare and stringent gun laws.