Thursday, March 29, 2007

Liberties Lost 1960 to the Present

Since 1960, Americans have lost the liberty to:


Open a secret US bank account.
Purchase firearms capable of firing generally available fixed ammunition by mail.
Open a secret foreign bank account, trust, or corporation.
Accumulate untaxed earnings in a secret foreign bank account, trust, or corporation.
Purchase new, fully automatic, firearms.
Buy high-volume flush toilets.
Discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, sex, age, etc. in employment and other commercial transactions.

Monday, March 26, 2007

Liberties Gained 1960 to the Present

Since 1960, Americans have gained the liberty to:

Commit sodomy.
Commit fornication.
Commit adultery.
Own gold.
Enforce gold clauses in contracts.
Privately possess obscene materials not featuring children.

Liberties Lost/Gained 1960 to the Present

One convenient use of a blog is to widely distribute information
which you, alone, possess. I am going to start two simple lists of
liberties that Americans have lost and gained since 1960. I am well
qualified for this task since I was politically conscious (in a
limited sense) in 1960 and I've been thinking about the topic ever
since. The blog format will also allow me to add to the lists as I
think of entries. The individual items on the two lists will be
restricted to America, will be short, will be in random order, will
consist only of liberties lost or gained from government
restrictions, and may be linked to definitions or examples as I can
be bothered to find the links.

I am doing this because I frequently listen to political commentary
and note that most hard core right wingers and libertarians believe
that many liberties have been lost while more centrist commentators
tend to see the gains. Neither side attempts a comprehensive
listing. We'll see how I do.

The initial lists will be short but I will add to them as time goes by.