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| quote: | Originally posted by trancaholic
I fail to see how low taxes are connected to freedom btw.? |
That's hilarious. Freedom is about making choices within your own life, about how you want to spend your time, make your living, and spend your money. When a government takes 50%+ of your income, that government is saying that it "knows better" than you do how to spend your money. You don't work to pay the government - you work to have income for yourself, and when a government decides that it wants an increasingly large share of your income, it's oppressing your own freedoms.
It's funny that a European wouldn't understand this, but perhaps a Briton might, considering that taxation was one of the main reasons that King George's army got their butts kicked out of the American colonies in 1781.
Now, about freedom of speech, it's rather interesting that the only arguments that Europeans can come up with are "well, you guys don't have breasts on TV"...as if porn on broadcast television is some major indicator of freedom of speech.
Instead, we have the the first amendment to the Constitution, which provides the broadest coverage anywhere in the world for the protection of speech, particularly in the realm of political speech. Why is it that neo-Nazi websites for Germans have to be hosted in United States? Because it's banned speech in Germany. Regardless of how you feel about neo-Nazis, we allow people to decide for themselves what they want to hear.
And contrast our concise first Amendment with the European Union's caveats in the ECHR: "The exercise of these freedoms, since it carries with it duties and responsibilities, may be subject to such formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society, in the interests of national security, territorial integrity or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or the rights of others, for preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary."
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FLUSHED THE JOHNS!
Last edited by imokruok on Apr-07-2004 at 18:03
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If you are looking for an anti-European American or believe me to be one then keep searching the forum because I would be a waste of your time. I have nothing but lots of love for Europe and actually have a deep interest in European culture, news, languages,etc. I for one know that the idea of censorship in Europe is ludicrous, at the same point in time you would believe that America was Iran based on your claims of lack of freedoms. While I have zero respect for the Bush government left, I wouldn't hop on the fence of mindless claims of lack of freedoms because of one jackass president and his admin. America is bigger than that and I would hope so are the viewpoints expressed from my European counterparts about American freedoms. 
haha.
