An analysis of the illusion of freedom

POSTED BY: chrisisall
UPDATED: Friday, April 24, 2026 16:13
VIEWED: 7512
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CHRISISALL

Wednesday, February 15, 2006 8:44 PM

A police officer can pull you over and give you a ticket almost any time for almost any thing. There are so many traffic laws that you can't not break some every time you drive.
An NSA official can pull you off the street at any time, for any reason and detain you for an indefinite time without notification of anybody.
You can buy a house, pay your taxes and your mortgage, and have it taken away by laws like Eminent Domain.
You can defend yourself against a violent attack, and have lawyers get you put in jail for 'using too much force' in your defence. God forbid you should break a man's leg when he's just trying to knock you unconsious.
Or, you could be killed by someone famous or wealthy, and he could get off because of these same high-priced charasmatic lawyers.

Freedom is like life; a bus might hit you, you could have a heart attack, you could get a fatal disease.
We like to think we'll live forever, and we like to think we're free.

The world is a jungle, there are no rules, only suggestions- and some are more emphatically stressed than others.

Like, the law says you maybe, kinda have to report an accident like Cheney had with that gun pretty soon after it happens...well, maybe not...go home and de-stress (ha! DE-TOX) first, why dontcha? It'll be okay.
Just one example...there are thousands I could come up with off the top of my head. But you get the idea.

The Constitution itself was written at a time when slavery was acceptable. Even a great document like that can be 'interpreted' to curtail freedom...

"These words were not meant just for the Yangs, but for the Commes as well.*beat* They must apply to everyone, or they mean nothing!! Do you understand?!"

Chrisisall, now taking questions and comments

DREAMTROVE

Wednesday, February 15, 2006 10:36 PM

I think this has been decaying for decades, but a higher level of freedom is possible. Emminant domain and police state could be ended. I think that you make some good points, and everyone in here in on the forum from England should take note: Blair's reforms will do this to you too.

RUE

Thursday, February 16, 2006 2:45 AM

What I think of as "The Illusion of Freedom":

Charmin or Scott
Burger King or McDonalds
WalMart or Target
channel 11 or channel 2
minimum wage here or minimum wage there

Too many choices confuse me.

DREAMTROVE

Thursday, February 16, 2006 3:55 AM

Rue,

Yes.

The trick is the implied statement in the choice.

"Either you're an Elvis fan or a Beatles Fan" implies that you're a rock and roll fan. It's innocuous, so everyone ignores the subtle subliminal trick that has been pulled on them, and now it has worked it's way into our culture.

"You're a Walmart person or a Target person" implies you like big impersonal warehouses, and therefore are opposed to old style mainstreet America, or for that matter, shopping malls.

CHRISISALL

Thursday, February 16, 2006 12:21 PM

Exactly.
Free to choose.
But not free to choose the choices.

Kerry or Bush- there are a few thousand others that could really do the job, but this is our choice...

Hmmmm...pretty bars on this cage...

Free to a degree Chrisisall

DREAMTROVE

Thursday, February 16, 2006 1:07 PM

Yeah, so there is only one choice, in politics, which is the primary.

At some point I was here: You're either a Democrat or a Republican, ie. you're a Jeffersonian. It took me a while to realize that this was a trick, just not the trick I thought it was. I was a Jeffersonian, but then most people were. The trick was that third parties are really a mechanism for removing extremists from the political process, and marginalizing them completely. Simultaneously, it was also a device for vote splitting, so Perot=Clinton and Nader=Bush.

The only way we had to vote against people like this is to vote in the primary. Now, of course, voting is not power, it's the illusion of power, even so, in a totally open field. This is because you're power to vote can be monitored via opinion polls and the like and then supplanted by a machine which is buying votes. The only way to do beat it is to organize. A group of organized people who don't honestly answer polls are the only sure way to trick the machine.

Also, this, from Heinlein's book, and I paraphrase:

The power of the individual in politics is not one person one vote. It's proportional to the amount of time and energy invested by that person or on that person's behalf. People who work hard and organize, (like say Karl Rove) have a lot of influence relative to someone who only spends 15 minutes walking down to the polling station and pulling a lever every 4 years. This latter case is a trick, to make you think you're participating in democracy at a tiny cost to you, just what everyone wants to hear. The people, of course, who have the most power are those who have throngs of others working towards their goal. (People like Bush or Kerry)

JONUS

Thursday, February 16, 2006 2:44 PM

One day it's gonna be like the Independents vs. Alliance. I can't wait.

Attack me, not my opinion.

HARDWARE

Thursday, February 16, 2006 3:37 PM

Democracy is two wolves and a lamb discussing what to have for dinner.

Liberty is a well armed lamb disputing the majority decision.

The more I get to know people the more I like my dogs.

CHRISISALL

Thursday, February 16, 2006 8:46 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Jonus:
One day it's gonna be like the Independents vs. Alliance. I can't wait.

We're fast approaching a time where more than two people in a household are going to have to work to support that household.

When it gets to where it's more than one family IN a household, I think your wait will be over...

Down with OCP Chrisisall

FLETCH2

Thursday, February 16, 2006 8:46 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Hardware:
Democracy is two wolves and a lamb discussing what to have for dinner.

Liberty is a well armed lamb disputing the majority decision.

The more I get to know people the more I like my dogs.

LOL

Did you think of that or is it a well known saying? love it

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