Freedom is a bad joke...

Americans are the laughing stock of the world precisely BECAUSE they think they are 'free' despite the fact that there is almost nothing they can do anymore which doesn't involve/require government oversight/permission. Americans THINK they're 'free,' yet they cannot:

Travel from one place to another without government permission;
Build or buy a house without government permission;
Use the land they putatively 'own' the way they see fit without government permission;
Own the weapon of their choice without government permission;
Get a bank account or job without government permission;
Put/take whatever they want into/out of their bodies without government permission;
Seek medical assistance without government permission;
Marry whomever they want without government permission, etc.

I could go on for DAYS with the list of things which we CANNOT DO without government permission, and yet Americans will still keep (stupidly) insisting that they are 'free.' We're a nation of government Negroes living on the government's plantation, and yet we keep calling ourselves the 'freest nation on earth.' Who the hell WOULDN'T laugh their asses off at us?! We shall go down in history as the biggest dupes of all time! Anonymous

The DEA, other federal and state agents and police are seizing houses, boats, cars, airplanes, real estate, furnishings, bank accounts and other assets belonging to people suspected of involvement in drug trafficking, or belonging to their spouses, often without a conviction, and whether or not the assets seized were tied to the alleged crime. In one state, a man is losing his home and his business for selling two grams of cocaine. In another, numerous cars are being confiscated from new car dealerships for failing to report all cash transactions involving more than $10,000. Elsewhere, a 75-year old grandmother is being dispossessed of her home for the sins of her fugitive, drug-dealing son. The government agencies are selling these assets and using the proceeds for anything from patrol cars to parties. The expected value of forfeitures is a times a determining factor in the question of who to raid. Police are routinely planting drugs and falsifying police reports to establish probable cause for cash seizures. Plea bargains are struck that commonly favor drug kingpins willing to surrender their assets and penalize "mules" with nothing to trade. As of early 1999, there was $2.7 billion in the federal government's "Asset Forfeiture Fund" alone.