Off hand I can think of one freedom that everybody else has that Americans don’t. We can visit Cuba as tourists any time we want.
Jump in to a time machine. Go back 200 years. Look at the other nations, and you will get an idea of why Key described America as the land of the free.
**Other question: what is freedom? I mean what is the freedom that one gets to enjoy here in the US that any European country doesn’t have? (same comments as for “part I”… don’t bite, don’ t name names, I’m just trying to hear -well, read anyway- your views on those issues. Thanks!) **
**Belgian Court Kills Vlaams Blok **
Belgium’s supreme court has branded the very popular Vlaams Blok political party as racist - essentially killing it, because this will stop public funding to the party.
Belgium’s far-right Vlaams Blok was branded racist in a supreme court ruling that will force one of Europe’s most successful anti-immigrant parties to relaunch itself. The supreme court upheld a verdict by a lower court in April that found the party to be guilty of “permanent incitement to segregation and racism”.
The top court rejected all 21 arguments put forward by the Vlaams Blok in an appeal against the April ruling by a court in Ghent, saying that freedom of speech had its limits under tough new anti-racism legislation. The verdict was met with applause from anti-racism activists inside the packed courtroom but gasps from party supporters.
Party officials had warned that the failure of the appeal would spell financial ruin for the Vlaams Blok with the loss of 250,000 euros (325,000 dollars) in annual public funding.
“What happened in Brussels today is unique in the Western world: never has a so-called democratic regime outlawed the country’s largest political party,” Vlaams Blok leader Frank Vanhecke said in a statement. “Today, our party has been killed, not by the electorate but by the judges.”
“We will establish a new party. This one Belgium will not be able to bury; it will bury Belgium,” he said.
While it’s hard to approve of every one of Vlaams Blok’s policies, there’s also no denying that this is very much a victory for European Islamic supremacist groups such as the openly radical, terror-supporting Arab European League—because almost no one else opposes them.
In our country, at the very least, The American Civil Liberties Union would be fighting for this group’s right to engage in free speech. Europeans, to us here in America, seem all too ready to just throw it over for fear of offending one group or another. We pay more than lip service to First Amendment rights, for the most part.
K
What do you do for a living? Did you have to declare a profession when you where a teenager? Do you still do the same job you did after your aprenticeship? How’s your annual income? Can you get a higher degree of education, get a better job and make extreme amounts of money? Can you start your own business doing most anything you can think of without having to be a recognized expert in your field and/or approved by your government?
These are a few important questions that need to be answered before I can answer you, but you may start to get the gist of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness from a carreer oriented point of view.
Other question: what is freedom? I mean what is the freedom that one gets to enjoy here in the US that any European country doesn’t have?
Your second question limits the infinite potential of the answer to the first question. Where you reside is but a small piece of the scope of freedom, though there are clearly places on Earth where the practicality of freedom to act out ones will is much easier than other places. Freedom, in the most broad and electrifying sense that I know, is the ability to let go, and yet be sober enough to be in complete control. If you enjoy reading, I’d like to suggest The Star Rover, by Jack London.