ThirstyFish

The American national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner" contains the repeating line: "O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave". Given the long and ugly history of slavery and segregation in the United States, that's a bold statement; It's either America is "the land of the free" only for the privileged white class or "the land of the free" is an ideal we are and must strive towards...

But rather than work towards freedom, we are rapidly losing many of our "freedoms". Mass surveillance, increasingly draconian laws, dilution of the Bill of Rights, militarization of police, rising corporate tyranny, prohibitive increases in cost of living, monopolization, deregulation, pollution, the destruction of education, privatization, globalization, epidemic of drug adiction, epidemic of mental disorders, indoctrination, mass manipulation, income inequality, poverty levels nearing 50%, crumbling infrastructure... Land of the free?