Quote:
Originally Posted by slapass
Didn't you just point out that we aren't owned? True we have issues in the govt but you have travelled a bit and know the USA is a long ways from a disaster.
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No, I didn't point out that we aren't owned.
I have said over and over that in the last few decades the govt. has pretty much ruled our lives from cradle to grave.
And yes, I have traveled a bit. Not as much as some of the guys on here who go to every damn show on the planet (JFK heh-heh).
But enough to see that when I come back to the U.S. it's like a damn police state.
It was bad enough BEFORE 9-11. I remember coming back from St. Martin in 1998 and landing in Atlanta. When I got my luggage I had one of those tags saying my luggage had been searched!!!
That REALLY pissed me off. And then I opened my luggage. They had taken and poured all of my shampoo, conditioner, and cologne all over my suits!
Only in America.
And the biggest contrast was going to Amsterdam. I fly into Amsterdam in 2007. They wave us through in the airport. And the whole time I was there I felt...FREE.
When I flew back home? When we first landed they had military looking guys with dogs sniffing us as we walked off the plane.
Then we went to the "U.S. Citizens" line to re-enter the country. I was so embarrassed watching people from other countries having eye scans and being fingerprinted in the other line.
And of course once we jumped through hoops and had to answer "questions" about why we were out of the country (like it's anybodies goddamn business what I do)...we retrieved our luggage to find....you guessed it: the tag saying our fucking luggage had been searched!
It's like being violated and raped by the authorities. All to ride on a glorified bus with wings. lol
So yeah...when I think of "freedom" and "land of the free" and all that other jingoistic bullshit we were taught in school, I do not think of the United States.
I feel much free-er in Mexico, Jamaica, The Bahamas, St. Martin, and of course Amsterdam.
I shouldn't....From everything I was taught as a child, I should never feel anymore free anywhere in the world than here in the United States.