Scanlyze

WTF happened to the land of the free and the home of the brave?

The greatest ideological weapon the US used to have is that we could point to the material and ethical benefits of our free, liberal society.

*We* had freedom of speech. *We* had a free press. *We* had full employment. *We* had the right to public education, including affordable or free college education. *We* did not spy on our citizens. *We* did not engage in torture. *We* obeyed and enforced the laws of war. *We* founded the United Nations. *We* had a democratic, pluralistic society in which everyone had a voice. *We* had separation of church and state. *We* had the right to organize and form unions, to bargain collectively, and to strike. *We* had the right to peaceably organize and protest against our government. *We* had free enterprise, where monopolies and cartels were neither tolerated nor legal. *We* had banks which were regulated in the public interest to prevent another economic crash. *We* had an open form of government where the people were in charge and the government did neither fear the people nor did the people fear the government. We had so much leisure time people didn’t always know what to do.

Our people were the wealthiest, freeest, healthiest and happiest in the world.

I am not talking about some never-neverland utopia. I remember this time in America. So does anyone my age if they think back.

What the fuck happened to us?

Copyright © 2013 Henry Edward Hardy

27 September, 2013 Posted by scanlyze | freedom, liberty, media, peace, politics, scanlyze, US, USA, war | democracy, freedom, liberty, scanlyze, United States, United States of America, US, USA, utopia, WTF happened | 1 Comment