Quote Originally Posted by TheCurmudgeon View Post
Stan,

Enjoy your beer and after you have had about three, ponder this.

Often when I ask Americans what freedom and liberty should mean, and how it should be maintained, I almost always get answers similar to you and SLAP. I believe American's are basically responsible human beings and they feel that being a responsible human being is all that is required for the perfect society. Any attempt to enforce that perfection is seen as an attack on their freedom. My son believes that anarchy is the next stage in governmental development.

It makes me wonder if anarchy IS actually what people want: to be free of the obligations of a government entirely. Of course, it is not as simple as that. It never is. But I do think there is a little bit of anarchist in all Americans ... and that is not a bad thing.
Stan,
This almost sounds like a Green Card test question. But I’ll bite as I am working on my 4th beer !

I feel I have the right to freedom not simply because I served my country for 23 years, but because well before me my entire family (mostly immigrants) chose to serve to preserve that American feeling.

Lately, the USA has done a poor job of maintaining our civil liberties with policies that any normal human could barely even imagine. Yep, on the surface it seems too easy for me to merely point out our govt’s faults. However, having served in situations where we knew we were dead wrong, and by oath of military service, we simply said “yes Sir”, it’s now easier than ever to tell you we were dead wrong.

We shouldn’t need a Snowden to tell us when we have breached ethical standards even by African standards, yet alone American.

I doubt most American civilians would even know what anarchy is.