Starhawk said:
Quote:
Starhawk said:
YES America has it's flaws but we are also the Strongest, and I have to say most FREE nation on earth
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Is it?
In terms of Economic freedom, it ranks sixth, behind Hong Kong, Signapore, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the UK (see:
http://www.ncpa.org/pi/internat/pd012299g.html)
But I don't think that's what he means. (After all, Signapore is a pretty facistic place in some ways, although, clearly, like Mussolini, the government keeps the train running on time)
So, what about other freedoms?
In terms of press/journalistic freedom (based on things like "attacks on journalists (such as murders, imprisonment, physical assaults and threats) and on the media (censorship, confiscation, searches and pressure).[and]... the degree of impunity enjoyed by those responsible for such violations...), the US is ranked as: 17th (Finland is first, France 11, Canada 5) (see:
http://www.rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=4118)
SO, how about political freedoms? It's hard to get a "top ten" for this, since most categorize rather than rank dsicreteley. Given that, Freedom House ranks the US in it's highest categrory (for both Political Rights and Civil Liberties) but details some disturbing trends as well
(
http://www.freedomhouse.org/research...atings/usa.htm)
The US shares this highest ranking with a number of other countries, including Uruguay, Slovenia, Norway, France, Canada, and a whole lot of others.
So, is the US the "most free" in the world? Well, it shares the highest Category, so you could make a case either way, really.