Thread: Land of the free?

I posted this in the "funny controversial things" thread and decided it warranted some discussion. Really, I wan't to know whether anyone from the left or the right, agrees and can give a valid argument in favor of this legislation.

Scumbag America...



Land of the free? A nation that has the highest imprison rate in the world by far (source), a nation in which half of the people in prison are non violent offenders (source), a nation in which a "joint" can get you thrown in prison for years (source), a nation in which the Government is now legally allowed to spy on it's citizens without a warrant (source), a nation in which the Government is now allowed to detain American citizens indefinitely with no due process of law (source), a nation in which the president has a hit list on American citizens (source), a nation in which presidents are going to war with no declaration of war (source), .....yea I think we should change our motto, might get sued for false advertising.

BTW both the Democrats and the Republicans have supported this legislation, legislation that deteriorates our civil liberties and stomps on our Constitution. So the question is, is this really the land of the free? My apologies for the rant....

IMO screw prisoners. While I may not agree with the laws, they still exist, and breaking them has consequences. If you(in general not Mafioso) don't like that you can't roll your own then start a platform to change the laws. Look how well it worked in both CO and WA, and I bet other states will soon follow.

I know if I was given the choice of being in prison or out I would choose out every day, but I don't really feel prison is as big of a deterrent as it should be. If it were we likely wouldn't have as many repeat offenders.

On a serious note:

As far as the stuff you listed, if you break the law, regardless of that law, fuck you. It's in writing, it's common knowledge. If you have issue then work to change it or don't get caught doing it. I don't think the weed infraction punishments fit the crime...but as I said, it's common knowledge.

The unwarranted spying and detention without due process I do have serious issue with. If I thought for a second they wouldn't get abused then it wouldn't bother me...but we all know they will.

The hit list of American Citizens, I don't have an issue with. If you consort with terrorists, then fuck you. I'll pull the trigger myself. I'm aware this could be abused as well...I also think that if there is enough intelligence to paint somebody as a terrorist then the government/military needs to be able to act on it.

As far as even more wartime involvement in other countries...I'm sick of war. I'd be willing to wager that I'm far from the only person in the military that feels that way. Leave them alone and mind our own fucking business at home.

So you supported the imprisonment of thousands of innocent Japanese-Americans during WWII?

My point is, it was a threat then, in the paranoid state that the US was in. Hindsight, in a state of panic, the most loyal of countrymen will have the finger pointed at them, it might be you, or your neighbor. Are we as a nation, trusting of ourselves to not turn those weapons on the "supposed" threat?

Originally Posted by Fovezer

If you want to talk about the incarceration rate in the United States, it is absolutely criminal (see the pun!) to not bring up private and for-profit prisons as another leading cause of keeping Americans locked up.

So they lock people up who have commited no crimes? Is that how those people got there? Or would they just be in a public prison?