Time ▾ Worth ▴ Analysis: The Reality About American Freedom and Democracy

As an American, we grew up with a relentless drumbeat telling us what an incredible nation America is as a result of it is so free and boasts so many freedoms. That is the final word instance of a false impression. America is the land of the free. This phrase is totally meaningless. Ask an American what they imply by freedom. What do you imply by the liberty you’ve gotten that others don’t? The common American citizen has much less freedom than any random villager in Indonesia or Ghana or wherever else within the World South.

 » The common American citizen has much less freedom than any random villager in Indonesia or in Ghana. «

What freedom are you even speaking about? Most People live paycheck to paycheck. For a lot of, lacking even one paycheck might imply being thrown out onto the road. That’s the fact. You don’t simply have one grasp in America relating to your slavery. We discuss debt slavery, wage slavery, and so forth. Your employer is your grasp. Your pupil mortgage officer is your grasp. Your landlord is your grasp. The bank card bureau is your grasp. Your mortgage mortgage officer is your grasp. Your insurance coverage adjuster, your HMO, the IRS, your bank card firm—they’re all of your masters. In America, you are a slave with many masters, and so they all have their chains on you, every with their very own lash to make use of in your again. So what freedom do you’ve gotten?  

» You don’t simply have one grasp in America relating to your slavery. «

You will have extra legal guidelines and laws in America than in every other nation on the earth. The common American’s every day life is ruled, influenced, restricted, or decided by tens of hundreds of legal guidelines and laws—upwards of fifty,000 to 100,000 guidelines on the municipal, state, and federal ranges—to not point out the principles imposed by your employer. Most of those guidelines exist underneath the pretense of creating society higher and defending you, however the fact, identified by any American who’s paying consideration, is that these guidelines exist primarily to generate income for the implementing our bodies by way of fines and costs. That’s the actual goal behind most of those laws. It isn’t about well being, security, or safety; it is nearly earning profits off you. And on this so-called nice democratic nation, you haven’t any say in how any of that cash is spent. You haven’t any say in how the funds collected from you’re utilized. So I ask once more: what freedom do you actually have? What freedom is so particular and distinctive? Actually, none. Zero. There are not any freedoms you’ve gotten within the West, in America, that aren’t obtainable elsewhere. And there are freedoms elsewhere that you just wouldn’t have in America. However they continuously inform you how free you’re, implying that each different nation is an oppressive tyranny the place nobody can do something.

Furthermore, the overwhelming majority of People by no means depart the nation, in order that they don’t even know what life is like wherever else. Western civilization has by no means really believed in freedom as the very best worth. That’s the fact they don’t need you to know. They by no means believed in freedom as the very best worth; it’s simply a part of the gross sales pitch to persuade you ways fantastic your society is. In case you hint again to the alleged philosophical roots of Western civilization in historic Greece, the philosophers they tout as inspiration—Aristotle, Plato—didn’t subscribe to this perception in unqualified freedom. The true basis of Western thought has all the time been extra authoritarian and classist than liberal and democratic. They prioritized order and the safety of the established order over liberty and freedom. They all the time believed in energy being held by the elite. In case you’ve learn these philosophers, whether or not they’re Greek, Enlightenment thinkers, or the so-called founding fathers, you’ll see the lineage of thought behind the trendy Western energy construction. They promote the general public an concept of freedom as a result of anybody with frequent sense is aware of that you could’t base an organized society solely on liberty and the so-called sovereignty of the person.

 » They’ve satisfied you ways free and democratic your society is, 

which, in sensible phrases, means you haven’t any energy by any means. «

Anybody who thinks about it for greater than 5 seconds realizes this. In case your society have been genuinely based mostly on what you declare it’s, how lengthy wouldn’t it final? America would appear to be the backwoods of Montana. However the authorities and the facility construction don’t even respect the inhabitants sufficient to inform you that. They don’t need you to know the actual system you reside in. That’s why they don’t educate individuals correctly. You would possibly level to the liberty to criticize the federal government or to protest. However they solely grant you the liberty to protest in a democracy after they aren’t really offering you with democracy. Give it some thought: why would it’s worthwhile to exit into the streets to demand change you probably have a functioning democracy? If political mechanisms exist to satisfy your calls for, why protest? As a result of your authorities ignores you. That’s why. Your freedom to protest and to criticize the federal government simply means you’ve gotten the liberty to not be listened to. The truth is, democracies have perfected the exclusion of the inhabitants from policy-making choices.

All the democratic mechanism is designed to marginalize the inhabitants. Proper now, they have you ever centered on the election, serious about who will win, who to vote for, or who to vote in opposition to, whereas actual energy is totally faraway from that course of. They’ve distracted you from the place actual energy lies as a result of they’ve satisfied you ways free and democratic your society is, which, in sensible phrases, means you haven’t any energy by any means. You haven’t any voice. That’s why it doesn’t matter while you protest on the street; it issues not more than casting a vote in a poll field. Each actions maintain equal significance relating to coverage outcomes. It begins from the misperception that your so-called civilization ever believed in freedom, liberty, and democracy. They by no means believed in that. In case you learn the Greek philosophers, the Enlightenment thinkers, or the founding fathers, you will note they by no means believed it for a second. What you’ve gotten is the system they meant you to have—a system the place energy is held by the elite and the inhabitants is marginalized and disempowered.