No.
Yes, we still have quite a few freedoms in this country compared to many other nations, but a lot of them are fake freedoms if you really think about it. For instance, you're free to live wherever you like, but the bank that holds your mortgage is free to steal your home for $2,000 if it feels like it. You're free to attend any school of higher learning you like, but if you can't afford it, you can either go into debt for the next 20 years or go flip burgers instead. Same goes for health care. Anyone is free to get insurance now, but if it's too damn expensive and you have to postpone needed care, it's your own damn fault that you died prematurely. You're free to work at any job you like, and your boss is also free to steal your wages. If you've actually managed to save any money, you're free to safeguard it any way you like, but the hedgies and derivatives traders are likewise free to loot your 401(k). You have the freedom to vote, but the government is under no obligation to actually count your vote. Really, about the only freedom we have that doesn't come with some ugly trade-off is the freedom to buy guns, and the freedom to go to church without being harassed. Unless you're a Muslim, that is.
I guess what I'm saying is, all of our many freedoms of association seem to be accompanied by someone else's freedom to pick our pockets. That sounds like a pretty good working definition of a kleptocracy, not a democracy, to me. At least we're free to complain about it!
---Baron V
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