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In what ways are we less free now?
5/31/2014 | Vanity

Posted on 05/31/2014 5:25:39 PM PDT by Wage Slave

I was watching a show last night on the Liberty Channel that featured Dennis Prager. Mr. Prager started talking about the fact that we are much less free now than we were in the past.

He mentioned that he was able to buy cigarettes for his mother when he was 10 years old.

That got me to wondering what other freedoms we've lost that our children will never know about. Maybe it would be a good idea to let them know so they can get an idea of what it means to boil a frog slowly.

In what ways do you think we are less free now?


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Society
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To: HeartlandOfAmerica
The heavy fist of the FedGov now owns over 1/3 of the land surface of the United States, not "We The People." WE THE PEOPLE has become a quaint notion with no real meaning any longer.

The FedGov owns 640 acres of American land. Say that over to yourself slowly a few times. The FedGov controls one third of the land surface in the US.

Can you all even IMAGINE what ownership of the additional 500 million acres of that land would do for the US economy, what with the mineral rights, timber rights, tourist rights and on and on and on.

But that's the idea I suppose.

41 posted on 05/31/2014 6:04:57 PM PDT by HeartlandOfAmerica (An army of deer led by a lion is more to be feared than an army of lions, led by a deer.)
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To: Wage Slave

As for the cops, I noticed even 15 years ago that they were morphing into jack-booted thugs.
I do not know if it is from TV and movies, or what, but today it is mostly cops in swat gear yelling “get on the ground, get on the ground NOW.” There are very few “good old boys” on the beat today.


42 posted on 05/31/2014 6:09:14 PM PDT by AlexW
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To: AlexW

Nope, none ever, anywhere


43 posted on 05/31/2014 6:14:33 PM PDT by equaviator (There's nothing like the universe to bring you down to earth.)
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To: Wage Slave

In the town where I grew up EVERYBODY did a U-turn at the No U-Turns sign. It was so common they even paved the road a bit wider there where everybody got a wheel off into the grass turning around.

The parking downtown on Main Street was diagonal to the curb and if you cam from the wrong direction you had to turn around to park.

We also rode on the sidewalks downtown as kids despite the signs saying we couldn’t.


44 posted on 05/31/2014 6:14:36 PM PDT by cripplecreek (Remember the River Raisin.)
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To: cripplecreek
I think it's known as common sense in govt. It's non-existent cc.

How about the FedGov ordering "mini-tanks" a billion MRE'S, a billion rounds of hollow-point ammunition, close to 200k FedGov employees under arms with the power to detain, arrest or shoot to kill at their discretion.

45 posted on 05/31/2014 6:17:48 PM PDT by HeartlandOfAmerica (An army of deer led by a lion is more to be feared than an army of lions, led by a deer.)
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To: Wage Slave
Too many to count, but here's one that just took effect in CA this year. Of course low flow faucets, toilets, etc. have been mandated for a while, but now if you remodel a kitchen or bathroom, you must replace anything that uses water in your house and isn't low flow.

These laws are passed like this. First some do-gooder libs push for something like forcing people to use low flow appliances for supposedly altruistic reasons. Then the faucet makers lobby the lawmakers and give them campaign cash. The legislators can claim they are only looking out for the public good, while they sell their votes.

46 posted on 05/31/2014 6:22:11 PM PDT by Hugin
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To: Wage Slave

The use of our property. What are we allowed to do with our farm? Even if we got advance clearance from the EPA, they could change their mind later.


47 posted on 05/31/2014 6:23:02 PM PDT by eccentric (a.k.a. baldwidow)
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To: Wage Slave
Aside from all of these personal freedoms everyone has listed above, let me open this monstrous can of worms... What did it take to open a shop or build a manufacturing plant just 2 generations ago, and what does it take now? The list of red tape and required forms alone is immense. The regulations. The environmental delays and studies and requirements and expenses. OSHA. It goes on and on and on.

Then let's move on to zoning and HOAs, and what we can no longer do with our own homes and properties...

48 posted on 05/31/2014 6:23:32 PM PDT by Teacher317 (We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men)
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To: Wage Slave

As a 6 year old, I could walk home from school


49 posted on 05/31/2014 6:23:44 PM PDT by PGR88
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To: Wage Slave
Kids can't, or don't, play outside because “bad” guys might get them. They can't ride their bikes all over town from dawn to dusk or today's parents would stroke out.

Many are now carrying 24/7, even inside their homes.

No personal privacy with cameras spying on us everywhere, even in store dressing rooms and public restroom. Also, creepy unisex dressing rooms and restrooms which is upside down lib thinking considering we're so scared of perverts grabbing our kids on the walk to school or online but it's fine to have them watching when privates are exposed.

Every transaction is monitored with excess personal info (phone, address, signature, driver's license or other photo ID).

We can't call grandma without the NSA snooping in on the conversation.

We can't send a birthday card through the mail without it being photographed and sniffed for untold substances.

Thinking of sharing pics of last weekend's fish fry on a social network? Ha, Big Brother will snag those for your file.

Can't apply for a job without giving up your social network pages so the potential employer can check out your personal comments, sexy pics to your significant other and determine if your friends and friends of friends pass some sort of standards test.

Your credit worthiness is also defendant upon the credit worthiness of your friends.

Can't pass through a traffic signal without having your pic and car tag being kept in some DPS file to be used against you at some future date.

Getting stopped by cops isn't a friendly warning anymore. Today, your phone will be grabbed, breath tests are mandatory and your blood will be taken.

You're finger printed for drivers license renewals.

No sleeping peacefully at night for fear knock warrants in the middle of the night at wrong address will get you, your kids and your dog killed by out of control cops. Even if you aren't home, cops will break into your house, chase your kids’ pet down the hall until it's cornered and empty their guns into it (happened in Round Rock, TX a couple days ago).

Can't walk down the street without drones following you.

Can't peak out your curtains without military-type police vehicles patrolling with SWAT all decked out in full combat pointing weapons at your kids’ windows and ordering you to stay in place. Then if you don't answer your door to them quick enough, they'll maul and handcuff you for no other reason than they can.

Can't file a non-profit status with the IRS without being harassed.

Freedom of religion in schools and other public places is being banned and you will be sued if you don't comply.

Freedom of speech can force you to make a public apology and your business sold out from under you.

We now have the thought police.

And the food police. And for goodness sake, don't even think about packing a sack lunch from home for little Johnny and never ever let him use his first finger for anything or he'll be handcuffed and arrested for brandishing weapons at school.

Do not let little Johnny smile at little Suzy or her parents will have him suspended from school and have “sexual predator” stamped on the front page of his permanent record.

We can't be Asians or Indians or Hispanics because anyone who does “identify” themselves as black is now Caucasian.

We can't deny service to extra special groups or we'll be sued and lose our businesses. These extra special groups demand extra special “rights” while taking away those which every American had under our now defunct Constitution.

The 2nd is quickly being struck down by our own fast becoming dictatorial government.

Can't sell at farmers markets without government permission.

Farmers can't sow seeds without signing contracts with Monsanto and the government.

Your 10 year old can't go to summer camp without a full physical and medical history along with giving their SS# which, as we have all been told, was never to be used for ID. There's so many permits and regulations on everything that no one can poop or breathe without getting permission to do so.

50 posted on 05/31/2014 6:24:58 PM PDT by bgill
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To: GreenAccord

toilet flushing rules


51 posted on 05/31/2014 6:25:15 PM PDT by eccentric (a.k.a. baldwidow)
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To: Hugin

Don’t forget light bulbs.


52 posted on 05/31/2014 6:30:54 PM PDT by Wage Slave
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To: cripplecreek

With our insane energy policy were financially less free. Ethanol has pushed up the price of food to record highs...taking your money. With a shinking economy your employer can cut your pay...make you work more hours and with 6 other poor souls lining up for your job....


53 posted on 05/31/2014 6:30:55 PM PDT by Blackirish
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To: Wage Slave
A) The right to not have to tell the IRS how much we earn each year, how we spend it, who we share it with, our full family structure as in who depends on us or we depend on for their support.

But one that really galled me the other day:

We should have the right to earn an income without the government being there with it's hand out to receive a no doubt well deserved 50% of some income such as contest winnings.

Essentially, we're tax slaves, not precisely wage slaves. The FedGov has become a tyranny due solely to the fact that they have the taxing power over not only us, but the entire economy, so that the more we earn the more it earns so that it's now become a bloated caricature of the govt that existed during the founding father's days.

54 posted on 05/31/2014 6:31:48 PM PDT by HeartlandOfAmerica (An army of deer led by a lion is more to be feared than an army of lions, led by a deer.)
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To: Wage Slave

Whoever holds the reins in DC has federal agencies to gather info to blackmail any individual, judge, congressman or senator that they choose. They can do it in secret without a judge’s approval and a national security gag order in place to prevent anyone from acknowledging it.


55 posted on 05/31/2014 6:32:23 PM PDT by FreeInWV (Have you had enough change yet?)
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To: bgill

Thanks for these responses. Depressing. But I want my adult children to know it.


56 posted on 05/31/2014 6:32:45 PM PDT by Wage Slave
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To: bgill
Children cannot learn about their own capitalist system through the use of bakesales and lemonade stands without a govt permit "to ensure that the food is safe" I heard it put the other day.

This one is truly revolting.

57 posted on 05/31/2014 6:33:49 PM PDT by HeartlandOfAmerica (An army of deer led by a lion is more to be feared than an army of lions, led by a deer.)
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To: eccentric

Don’t forget light bulbs, you NEED a frigging permit for most anything you
do to your OWN property, used to be able to smoke anywhere, frigging
smog checks for cars, MOST OF ALL FREE, FREE SPEECH AND RELIGION!!!!!


58 posted on 05/31/2014 6:33:56 PM PDT by Kit cat (OBummer must go)
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To: cripplecreek
In high school we took guns to school during hunting season and that was in the 80s.

In 2003, a .22 had fallen out of a 5th or 6th grader's pocket in the school's restroom. The female principal had sense enough to laugh and throw it in the trash. I suspect that was the last bit of common sense that was used by a school official.

59 posted on 05/31/2014 6:34:50 PM PDT by bgill
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To: HeartlandOfAmerica

sorry. “Put that way”


60 posted on 05/31/2014 6:35:09 PM PDT by HeartlandOfAmerica (An army of deer led by a lion is more to be feared than an army of lions, led by a deer.)
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