All those things you mention are nice, but they come at a steep cost - government control. What makes you think the marketplace wouldn't have come up with more efficient machines without government interference? What makes you think people wouldn't conserve without the government forcing them to? The problem you have is almost universal these days. You can't imagine doing "right" without the government mandating it. But that's not freedom. I wore a seatbelt before it was forced on us, because it made sense to do it. It still makes sense to do it, but now you can be arrested for not doing it.dale blanker wrote:Gee thanks, now I feel terrible too. But if I had lived in the 20's I would have enjoyed getting my beer more than my machine gun which you mentioned first, apparently as most important. Remember prohibition? Remember Jim Crow laws?baldeagle wrote:OK. Be glad to. In the 1920's you could buy a machinegun from a catalog, no questions asked. Now you have to fill out a bunch of forms, undergo an extensive background check and pay prohibitive taxes (all fees are really taxes) for the "right" to own one. Today, you can't legally dig a pond in your backyard without the government's permission. You can't buy a new toilet, a refrigerator, a washer or dryer, a car, and many other things without first having gotten the government's approval. There are thousands and thousands of laws and regulations that can trip you up and cost you your life savings and your freedom. Now, some politicians are trying to make speaking ill of favored groups a federal crime.dale blanker wrote:Agreed about the clown show but not sure what is meant by "our rights further stripped away". I see that mentioned on the forum and elsewhere every once in a while so I'm wondering what rights I'm losing.DevilDawg wrote:All of this couldn't be scripted better by the Democrats/Liberals/etc. if they tried. This clown show is helping Hillary win. The GOP is on large a pack of self-serving idiots who can't put Country before self. Sadly we will yet once again get the "leadership" we deserve and watch our rights further be stripped away.It seems like gays have more rights, the poor have better health care, some illegals are still doing better, and the market is up. I'm not saying everything is rosy but at least we don't have Greece's problems (debt vs GDP-wise). Please enlighten me.
I could go on and on for hours, but if you really think you are as free as your ancestors were, maybe you need to pay closer attention to what's going on around you.
Some of the regulations you resent conserve, keep us safer, set standards, and actually save us money in the long run. People that put cost over safety frequently end us costing us more in the long run.
In general, I'll gladly take the 2010s over the 1920s. Oh wait, now I feel better.
You, like so many Americans these days, don't understand what freedom is.