I've been outside of N. America: England, Sweden, Italy, a few other places in the Caribbean.
All of these places seemed okay, although someone told me that Sweden has a high suicide rate. I'm wondering if the citizens there have as many rights--I was told by an Englishman that it was inconceivable that an ordinary person there could sue Tony Blair, and force him to give a deposition about his sex life.
The only serious questions raised here, outside of citations to a unique incident or two, have to do with public laws concerning marijuana, prostitution, and euthenasia.
My interest in prostitution is nil, and my only interest in marijuana is that i would like it to be medicinally available to me if the need arose. Euthenasia requires a hard look--I wouldn't want to see doctors assisting in deaths of persons in a temporary (or treatable) state of depression, or simply because the person has become inconvenient or expensive. Other than that, we may be too cautious.
None of these things seems serious threats to the status of the US as a "free" country. People come here from foreign countries, and are millionaires a few years later (look at Pierre Omidyar of Ebay, for example). Seems like a pretty free and open society to me. |
