The myth of freedom in America

[AZ Progressive]

I wonder if this is a bubble that deserves to be popped. America is not the land of the free. If this was a nation of freedom, then...

- People wouldn't have to work if they didn't want to. Instead, you have to make a lot of money or pay the consequences in terms of an increasingly harsh and hostile life the less money you make, with the ultimate consequences being a ruined life. And people have to give up their time in life just to make money. And people often increasingly take on large responsibilities (buying a house, having to support a family) so thus their cost of living goes up and up and they have to work hard in order to support that. So basically most people are a slave to the economic system.

- Why do most people basically have a "lord" in the form of an employer? And that lord might be nice, or harsh. Your "lord" basically is your caretaker in certain regards, and you must appeal to that caretaker if you want to do some big decisions. Your "lord" can decide to fire you or lay you off, and depending on the job market in your field and the state of the economy, could be a huge punishment or utter disaster for you. Before Obamacare, your "lord" was totally responsible for you getting healthcare if you had a preexisting condition, as you couldn't get healthcare without working. Your freedom in this regard is a choice to your lord. A small business owner has more freedom in this regard, but managing a business can be even harder work and it can own you, and your still dependent on your customers (which can swiftly punish you on yelp for instance.)


- You can't live wherever you want to. In most cases, you have to live wherever you can find a job. You could be transferred though, but that's up to your employer. And if your self employed, you often built up a reputation in a city or area and thus can't move out of it. The most you can do is save up money to travel once in a while.

- If, for whatever reason, you can't obtain healthcare (due to both politics and the economic system), you might get sick and that sickness might take away much of whatever freedom you have.

- If you have a home, even if you pay it off, you don't really own it. If a homeowner doesn't pay their property taxes, which often amount to $300 or more a month, then the county will eventually seize their home and sell it. That's not property ownership. That's having to continue to pay rent to the government even after supposedly paying off the house. Yes I know the money is needed by the municipal governments, but still, that's not freedom. You will never be secure in being able to have a roof over your head. You will never be able to not have to pay rent.


Freedom in America is a myth, and is only used to perpetuate certain things like gun rights and freedom for predators to prey on the American people. American "freedom" is not freedom.

[dawg]

1. Freedom has always been a relative thing.

We are more free than the Iranians. We are less free than the Canadians.

The important thing is the trend. Are we becoming more free over time? Or less?

[Bucky]

5. Thank you

The OP makes it sound like there's no difference between employment and slavery. It's a historically naive viewpoint. We can do better, and certainly the middle class is getting screwed of late, but there's never been a free ride for 95% of the world's population

[frizzled]

2. Marx said quite a bit about "wage slavery" that's relevant here

It's unfortunate that everyone thinks reading Marx will make you a Marxist, because Marx had very little to say about Marxism but a LOT about capitalism. Most of which is highly relevant.

[KG]

3. I'll never understand a 'freedom' loving country tolerating military conscription,

or travel restrictions..

[LanternWaste]

6. Or stop lights.

Or stop lights.

[markpkessinger]

7. At the same time, however, the "all volunteer" military is largely a fiction, too . . .

. . . given that so many of these "volunteers" are drawn from communities in which there are few opportunities for gainful employment and little hope of bettering oneself financially, thus making military service one of the few real options.

[Hortensis]

4. Shouldn't your header be "The myth of a free life?" Personally,

I think your evaluation would benefit from living in North Korea for a while. Or as a homosexual in Russia. Just for perspective.

Freedom, after all, comes in degrees and in many ways. For some, freedom can be strongly affected by having a laundromat nearby. Or not.

“War is peace.
Freedom is slavery.
Ignorance is strength.”
― George Orwell, 1984