Freedom!
"Freedom" has always been an important concept in American cultural and political life. The myth goes, after all, that the country was founded by a small group of people seeking freedom from religious persecution (I say that this is a myth because, even discounting the indigenous population, America was already being settled by the Spanish and English in an organised fashion long before the Mayflower turned up - the oldest setled "western" town on the US mainland is in Florida, the next oldest in New Mexico, and Jamestown was founded nearly a generation before Plymouth Rock). The myth becomes somewhat truer when one considers the birth of an independent American nation - they fought to be free of British control.
However, "freedom" has become a panacea, a cure-all. Michelle Bachmann (whose habit of completely ignoring embarrassing questions over her past gaffes, and saying something else - often a new gaffe - has already become annoying) stated a couple of days ago what is a truism for the American Right; that Americans enjoy freedoms unparalleled anywhere else in the world.
Now, when I hear claims like this, I am given to a certain scepticism. When grandiose claims are made by a nation's rulers (or in this case would-be ruler), they often ring false - after all, haven't we heard the claims made by the likes of Stalin, Qadafi, Kim, Mugabe et al. about how their states are paragons of virtue in a world that hates them only because they fail to understand them? (The American position is slightly different - those who hate AMerica usually do so either from a position of envy, or more commonly because "they hate our freedoms" - an accusation that might ring true when levelled at political leaders, but surely absurd when levelled at citizens of other states).
So I'd like to know what these freedoms are which Americans have that are denied to citizens of EVERY OTHER COUNTRY IN THE WORLD. Because I've given it some thought, and I'm pretty much coming up blank.
However, "freedom" has become a panacea, a cure-all. Michelle Bachmann (whose habit of completely ignoring embarrassing questions over her past gaffes, and saying something else - often a new gaffe - has already become annoying) stated a couple of days ago what is a truism for the American Right; that Americans enjoy freedoms unparalleled anywhere else in the world.
Now, when I hear claims like this, I am given to a certain scepticism. When grandiose claims are made by a nation's rulers (or in this case would-be ruler), they often ring false - after all, haven't we heard the claims made by the likes of Stalin, Qadafi, Kim, Mugabe et al. about how their states are paragons of virtue in a world that hates them only because they fail to understand them? (The American position is slightly different - those who hate AMerica usually do so either from a position of envy, or more commonly because "they hate our freedoms" - an accusation that might ring true when levelled at political leaders, but surely absurd when levelled at citizens of other states).
So I'd like to know what these freedoms are which Americans have that are denied to citizens of EVERY OTHER COUNTRY IN THE WORLD. Because I've given it some thought, and I'm pretty much coming up blank.