I agree. I was living in Italy during the Berlusconi years, every time there was a new law designed to limit personal rights or freedoms, someone would reply "t

I agree. I was living in Italy during the Berlusconi years, every time there was a new law designed to limit personal rights or freedoms, someone would reply "then what about XYZ" where XYZ was invariably what Freedom House would describe as a non-free or partially-free country. No one ever tried to compare Italy to, say, Sweden or Denmark. Once the 'race to the bottom' mentality becomes mainstream, it can do a lot of damage.