8 Reasons Why America is NOT "The Land of the Free" - A 4th of July Special
Every year on the 4th of July, Americans celebrate Independence Day by going to barbecues, picnics, and watching fireworks at night, or igniting them up themselves. The media claims that it's a day to "celebrate our freedoms". Yet they are never clear what that means exactly, probably because they don't want you to think too much about it. Because if you did, you'd realize that it doesn't make sense. The notion that America has "special freedoms" that the rest of the world doesn't, like many concepts in America, turns out to be a baseless myth upon examination.
In actuality, America is one of the least free countries in the world, compared to most other countries. Yet Americans are brainwashed to believe that they live in "the land of the free" without reason or basis. Since the media and everyone else around them repeat this like a programmed mantra, they assume it must be true so they just repeat it to go along.
It's like a religion. But it's based on the faulty premise that all other countries are unfree and all under some kind of dictatorship, while America is the only country that remains free, which is totally UNTRUE. It's just a form of mind control designed to pacify the sheeple and human cattle with false ideas to keep them motivated to go to work and be productive.
However, with the US government and power elite taking away more America's freedoms since 9/11, and undermining the US Constitution, I don't think most Americans believe anymore that America is a free country. So nowadays, on the 4th of July, they just use it as a holiday to have fun and light fireworks. So this myth of America being "the land of the free" is way outdated now. But people still chant it to be cool and fit in, and the corporate media still propagates it of course, because their job is to promote the mind control of the establishment. So perhaps I'm beating a dead horse with this article.
However, I still want to write this because there are many more reasons why America is not a free country, besides tyranny of government (which is what the alternative media focuses on), that is not discussed in either the mainstream media, alternative media or the conspiracy movement. And I want to elaborate on them here. So most of this will be new to most people that are not familiar with my work on HappierAbroad.com.
So let's begin. Here are good logical reasons why America is not "the land of the free", but is in fact one of the most unfree countries:
1. America has the highest number of laws in the world. More laws = more restrictions and controls = LESS freedom. Simple logic. Everything is over-regulated in America. Too much regulation takes away freedoms. In contrast, Mexico has one of the fewest number of laws. Ask any Mexican immigrant, and they will tell you that Mexico is way freer than America. No other country has as many laws as America does.
Now, I know some of the laws are supposed to be there to protect people, but they've gone way into overkill. Other countries are able to maintain safety without so many laws. So why can't the US? Too much overcontrol is not a good thing. Many laws are there just to tax people and allow government to stick its nose where it doesn't belong, such as in the affairs of private families and businesses. Moreover, too much government control or state planning has never been good for economic growth, as history has shown.
2. The size of the US government has increased in size by 20 times since the dawn of the 20th Century. The size of the government has grown like a huge monster out of control. Unfortunately, governments don't like to decrease in size because politicians don't want to lose money. That's why the founding fathers of America emphasized that government should be small and limited with minimal powers.
What the US government, media and American historians don't like to tell you, is that when the Roman Empire officially fell in 476 AD, many Roman citizens were glad because at that time, the Roman government had grown to a monstrous size and was overtaxing and overcontrolling everyone, and they got sick of it. The US government is doing the same thing now, but they don't want you to know that because it's not to their advantage.
The ideal size of government was the way it was during the 1800's, when the US government was a small size and did not bother people much. It had a very Laissez Faire type of approach, which allowed people a lot more freedoms and economic growth. With small government came little need for taxes. Thus there was no income tax and no inflation. In fact, the value of the dollar remained stable throughout the 1800's and by the end of the century actually had risen in value, thus technically resulting in deflation.
Back then, immigrants could come to America without any passports, visas or immigration customs to deal with. They'd just get off the ship and go where they want afterward. Now that was the kind of government that Thomas Jefferson and the founding fathers had in mind, which was nothing like the huge Orwellian type of government that we have today.
3. The US has one of the highest costs of living in the world. Compared to the other 200 countries, the US is definitely in the top tier when it comes to expensive costs of living. Prices and costs are way too high and so is inflation. In the 20th century, the US dollar lost 95 percent of its value. In contrast, during the 1800's there was no inflation and the dollar was worth more at the end of the 1800's than at the beginning.
Higher cost of living means that one has to work more and be a slave to their job more, with LESS free time to do what they want. There's not even time for personal growth. What's the point of living when all you do is work to make a living? What's there to live for? It's pointless. You are just a slave hamster on a treadmill. Being a debt slave is not living freely.
As we all know, money can buy freedom, if one has enough of it. Thus, a higher cost of living means that people have LESS capability to "buy their freedom" since their money is worth less.
This insane rising cost of living in the US is most likely deliberately planned. Here's why: The US is known to have the biggest gap between rich and poor. So it is in the interest of the wealthy elite class to keep the poor in America poor, so they do not rise up and become too competitive, which would undermine the monopolies of the upper class and drive prices down. This inhibits the "freedom" of upward mobility in America.
This would also explain the deliberate dumbing down of America in the public education system, which insider whistleblowers such as Charlotte Iserbyt have revealed. As Jordan Maxwell said, "What the government pays for, it gets. Logic will tell you that if the government didn't get what it wanted, it would change things." ("Matrix of Power" and "Zeitgeist") But of course, the public is not told about such things. They are merely part of a system of mass social engineering behind the scenes, one of their techniques in "human livestock management" so to speak.
Also, the government needs to maintain a poor class or else no one would enlist in the US armed forces. If you do the research, you will find that most people join the US military out of economic need, not for patriotism or a desire to "serve one's country". What's ironic is that the US publicly promotes that it's trying to defend freedom abroad, while not being able to provide freedom at home.
So you see, even what freedoms you have in America are being slowly undermined behind the scenes, without the public's knowledge or approval.
4. America has the highest prison population in the world. Currently, there are 2 million people incarcerated in American prisons. 2 million! That's crazy. No other country has anywhere near that amount in prison. Only in a dysfunctional, insane, crazy, toxic, repressed society would that many people be in prison. How can the alleged "freest country in the world" also have the biggest prison population as well?! That's a huge oxymoron that doesn't make sense! Obviously there is a chasm of difference between what America says and what it is.
5. US social culture is way too politically correct, which greatly reduces your ability to speak freely and honestly. It's a restriction on free speech. From what I heard, back in the 1970's, there was no political correctness. People were free to be as honest as they wanted, so they could speak their mind freely and from the heart.
Even if someone has something negative to say, honesty is always better than suppression and repression. So America has become a lot LESS free since the 70's in terms of free speech and freedom to be yourself. In other countries where there is less political correctness, one feels a lot freer. I know I did, and so did many others I know.
The overbearing political correctness in modern America, coupled with the high level of fear and paranoia in people, makes America a very socially unhealthy and repressed culture and people.
But political correctness is not there to help protect people though. It's there as a first stage in controlling the masses. You see, once you restrict free speech in the name of "cultural sensitivity", it then becomes easier to take away other freedoms and put in more control. To take away freedom, you do it in small steps, so that each subsequent step becomes easier for people to take. That's how the ruling elite impose their will when its unpopular, by doing it gradually in increments. They've always done it this way.
Americans are not taught to see such things. Instead, they are taught to celebrate their pseudo-freedoms on the 4th of July and believe that people in the military are "serving our country" and all that hogwash, etc.
6. American social culture is fake, artificial, phony and toxic, which doesn't allow you to be your true self. Starting from high school, teenagers learn to act very phony and artificial, like posers. They have to do so in order to be cool and have friends. Otherwise, they will become misfits and social outcasts. If you are authentic and down-to-earth, you will be seen as introverted and lacking in social skills, when in reality, you just don't like acting fake and artificial. It's very upside down.
This is how the typical American fake personality forms. Children are born with genuine personalities. But beginning in high school, they are gradually molded into the fake social persona that is required to fit into American social culture. This carries on into adulthood. Only older folks and senior citizens can afford to be down-to-earth again, because at their age, they no longer are trying to conform or fit in. Plus the seniors of today come from a generation when Americans were more down-to-earth than today.
The social culture is also very toxic in that it undermines your self-esteem and tries to tear you down, making you feel insecure and inadequate. Deep down, no one feels accepted for themselves in America. They always feel like they aren't good enough and have to prove themselves. So they overcompensate by acting tough, arrogant, cocky, bragging a lot, bullshitting a lot, and developing big egos. In contrast, when you go abroad, you will notice that people are far more modest and humble, and do not have to act that way. This can only mean that foreigners come from social cultures that are NOT as toxic and do not tear down their self-esteem the way that America does.
I don't know if you've noticed this, but the way Americans act, even when they're being friendly, seems very artificial, superficial, and hollow. If you've never left America, you might not notice it much. But once you spend more time abroad, where people tend to act more down-to-earth and genuine, you will then realize how phony Americans really act.
Also, if you are a deep thinker or have a deep soul, you will notice it as well, because phoniness is a deep thinker's pet peeve. They can see through it with the eyes of a hawk. In fact, people who are deep thinkers tend not to like America, because American culture is predicated on a great deal of fakeness, phoniness, hype, lies and illusion, not truth. Instead, they tend to prefer Europe, where the cultures are more conducive to being intellectual, philosophical and genuine, and the people tend to be more down-to-earth and authentic.
The consequence of this is that when you develop a fake artificial social personality in America in order to fit in and be accepted, it separates you from your true authentic self, which becomes suppressed in the process. As a result of this psychological schism between your fake social self and your true authentic self, you experience a deep inner fragmentation, which in turn leads to mental imbalance and inner conflict. This, I believe, is the primary cause of many forms of mental disorders in America. And it's why you see so many crazy messed up people in America, and depressed degenerates everywhere (especially in urban areas).
In addition, Americans are raised to believe in many contradictory things, which screws them up psychologically. For example, they are taught that they are "free individuals in a free country" yet they are also taught that they must conform to society and adopt all its strict rules, laws and boundaries. And at work, they are required to conform to their work culture and become subservient slaves to their jobs. To give another example: Many Americans are raised with good Christian values but then in the adult world, they are taught that "profit is king" and that "greed is good". Like two muscles that become damaged when they rub against each other, their minds become damaged by such conflicting beliefs.
Anyway, the reason why this makes American unfree is this: If you have to develop an artificial phony social personality to conform to American social culture, then you are disallowed from expressing your true authentic self. In other words, you are not allowed to be yourself in America, at least not your real genuine self. You see, being free to "be yourself" is the true definition of freedom, while having to be something you're not is a psychological prison. Thus America takes away your freedom to be yourself, which is the highest expression of freedom.
This is why many American travelers and expats feel that when they go abroad to foreign cultures, which are more down-to-earth and authentic, they feel much more free, because they are free to be themselves again. They are free to reunite with their authentic self again, which was suppressed in America. As a result, they experience a feeling of liberation that they've never felt in America. And they realize that America was a "psychological prison" all along. As a result, when they return to the US, they experience "reverse culture shock", because once they come back, they are faced with imprisonment again by the phony toxic American social culture.
7. The social vibe in America is permeated with high levels of fear and paranoia, creating segregation between people, and making the country socially unfree. America also feels very socially unfree in that there is this high level of fear and paranoia between people, even between neighbors, which creates social separation. You can feel it in the social vibe and energy of most places, which does not feel positive at all. There is this unnatural fear of strangers, and this ice wall between strangers. People seem cold and distant. Out in public, people don't talk to strangers unless it's business-related. Communication is strictly for business only. There is no feeling of social or human connection at all. And no camaraderie between people. Instead, the atmosphere is one of cold isolation, which easily leads to loneliness.
You also get this sense that people don't like other people, and prefer to get away from others. It's very antisocial and uptight, to say the least. And it rubs off on you too. The only smiles you get are from customer service people, who fake their plastic smiles to you as part of their job. Socially speaking, you feel "shut out" from other people, unless you have a good social network, which is not easy to get and requires a great deal of fakery and conformity to attain.
The thing is, humans are not meant to be solitary creatures. We are meant to be interdependent, have friendships and social connection with others. It is an integral part of our happiness. Yet this is greatly inhibited in America, as explained above. And America falsely teaches that one should not need others, but be independent from others. Needless to say, trying to make friends in America is one of the hardest things. What this means is that America is very socially unfree in that you do not have the freedom to socially connect with others.
What's worse, American families and friendships seem to lack any feeling of closeness, especially compared to Asian and Hispanic families which are much more close-knit and remain so for life. White American families seem more like a clique of friends, than a real close-knit family, and do not remain close throughout life. It's hard to explain, but around American families I get this feeling of superficiality and hollowness, which feels very empty. Maybe it's because I have a deep soul and am different from them.
You're not even allowed to flirt in America anymore. Flirtation is seen as creepy, inappropriate and taboo in modern America. However, flirtation was normal, cool and acceptable in America prior to the mid 1980's. (and in most foreign countries today, it still is) But after that, it somehow became a bad creepy thing. People who grew up during the 70's and 80's know this, but no one dares to talk about this or has an explanation for why that is. In modern America, you are not even supposed to have desires to flirt. If you do, you are considered a creep, a pervert and a bad person. Perhaps that's why no one dares to talk about it. It's a taboo. This is way too uptight, unnatural and no fun.
8. People in modern America seem repressed, robotic and zombie-like, like they have no soul and are not alive. Perhaps this is why zombie movies and video games are so popular nowadays, because Americans identify with the zombies because they've become like zombies themselves. It's likely part of the elite's agenda to pacify people and dumb them down with mindless entertainment and distractions. People seem numb, like they are just going through the motions with no feeling or passion. It's like they are not human or alive anymore. What this means is that you are not "free to be alive" in America. lol
But it wasn't like that long ago though. Americans were more human and natural in the past. I talked to people who grew up in the 60's, 70's and 80's and they agree that people in America changed greatly. With each decade, Americans gradually became cold, soulless, guarded, unfriendly, unsocial, hateful, jeering, spoiled, standoffish, cynical, snobby, and began to dislike others. All of a sudden there was no longer a sense of closeness between family and friends. It was like a "wave of energy" swooped across the nation and changed people, but a few people like me were immune to it for some reason and remained unchanged.
The sci fi movie "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" in 1978, where people were replaced by alien clones with no feeling or emotion, seems to have already happened in America. Perhaps that film was a foreshadowing, either deliberately or as a message from higher forces above.
Of course, if you are a cold, unfeeling, soulless person yourself, you may not see anything wrong with this nor will you suffer from it. It's only when you are soulful, passionate, romantic and full of feeling (like I am) that you suffer and feel out of place by this.
Also, if you've never left America, you may assume that being cold, distant and disconnected from others is normal. But once you start traveling or living in foreign countries, where there is natural inherent social and human connection, you realize that that is not normal at all, and that America has somehow become very socially dysfunctional. Instead of the natural social connection that most other cultures have, America's social atmosphere is permeated by intense fear and paranoia. That's not a good or healthy thing at all, and it rubs off on you eventually, even if you're not like that.
The good news is that you can still find people who are open, social, expressive, passionate and uninhibited today in other countries such as Russia, parts of Europe and Asia, and most of Latin America. But the stupid media never tell you this though. All they care about are politics, economics and wars, which is so boring, pointless and does not fulfill one's soul or provide any romance, passion or social connection.
Conclusion
So you see, the notion that "America is the land of the free" is baseless and unwarranted. It's just a religious myth that's repeated over and over again in US media, education and culture, until people assume it is true. It's a form of cult-like brainwashing on a national scale. And it's kind of creepy how effective it is, like something from the Twilight Zone.
In reality, there is a huge chasm of difference between what America is and what is claims to be. And more and more people around the world, and even in America, are beginning to realize that.
For America to be the freest country, or one of the freest, every other country would have to be an extreme dictatorship like North Korea. However, most countries are nothing like that, but are in fact a lot freer than America in many ways, such as in the ways outlined above.
But America tries to trick people into thinking that all other foreign countries are like North Korea, the Middle East, or Nazi Germany. It's a classic false generalization comparison, the kind that advertisers typically use when they take the worst examples from their competitors and try to portray it as representative of their all competitors in general to try to make them look bad. It's a major fallacy and brainwashing tactic.
Since 9/11, when the US government began acting like a tyrant and control freak, more and more people have begun to realize that America is not a free country anymore. So most likely, most Americans do not still hold the myth that "America is the land of the free" anymore, at least not since 9/11. So the reasons I gave above, though not well publicized, only add fuel to the fire, and that's a good thing I think. More truth can only be better, and serve as a forward step to change (if it's going to happen that is).
In my opinion, based on #5 above, the biggest loss of freedom in America is not from the high number of laws or high cost of living. It is from not having the freedom to BE YOURSELF. But of course, it depends on what "yourself" is. If you are a workaholic with no soul or feeling, and like being distant and isolated from others, then yeah you can be yourself in America I suppose. But if you are passionate, adventurous, uninhibited, flirtatious, romantic, full of feeling, and thrive on closeness and human connection with others, then no, you cannot be yourself in America.
The simplest definition of freedom is: "The ability to do what you want with minimal control and restrictions from outside agencies and people." So it depends on what you want to be "free" to do. For example, if you want to be a debt slave and work in a soulless corporation that treats you like a resource, then yeah I guess you are "free in America". Otherwise, you are not.
This is why America tends to define freedom as "freedom to work" which presupposes that everyone "lives to work" and is happy to be an economic resource (hence the term "human resource") and slave to the system. It's not true of course, since in Europe, people are said to "work to live, not live to work" and many people in America feel the same way.
But that's the American assumption. And the reason for it is that the ruling elite in America see the masses as cattle or human livestock, whose main purpose is to PRODUCE, just like livestock on a farm are. Hence, society is merely a form of "sophisticated human farming". The "farmers" collect taxes from us just like they collect milk from cows, or meat from livestock. This is why they need to program you with the "live to work" mentality and define your freedom for you, as "freedom to work".
Conspiracy talk show hosts like Alex Jones will tell you that the answer to all this is to stay in America and raise awareness (by bitching on a radio show all day) in order to fight the NWO (New World Order). But that's futile and pointless and does not bring happiness to people. I have a much better and more obvious solution though, which is to simply: GET OUT OF AMERICA! That's it. It's simple, obvious and makes sense. After all, if you are on a sinking ship, the best thing to do is GET OFF the ship, not stay on it. Duh. I don't know why most people assume that such a solution or option doesn't even exist. It must be the result of years of brainwashing with the notion that "everyone wants to come to America, no one wants to leave it".
Trust me, if you are an authentic person, you will be happier overseas. Just find a country that that is healthier, saner, freer and more authentic, where people are more genuine and down-to-earth, where cost of living is cheaper, and where food is healthier and more natural. There are many foreign cultures with real culture, soul and passion, that a repressed person in America can be happier in. Just do the research. I've experienced and lived it, and so have many others.
To learn more, visit my website and forum at http://www.HappierAbroad.com
Also listen to my audio introduction called "5 Major Benefits of Leaving America for a Better Life Abroad": http://www.happierabroad.com/5_benefits_overseas.mp3
And check out my new Comparison Treatise of America vs. most other countries, which covers many important comparison points in many categories:
http://www.happierabroad.com/ComparisonTreatise.htm
I hope I've given you something to consider on this 4th of July holiday weekend. Thanks for reading. Have a great holiday.
See Also:
Debunking the Myth of Freedom and Democracy in America
http://www.happierabroad.com/ebook/Page31a.htm
