> Things like National Security letters and the PATRIOT act make the US to me, as a European, seem very hypocritical right now. These are not even remotely com

> Things like National Security letters and the PATRIOT act make the US to me, as a European, seem very hypocritical right now. These are not even remotely comparable. China is an outright police state. Not saying the United States doesn't have a lot of work to do with regards to personal liberty, but the Government here has nothing close to the iron grip control that the CCP has; they may want it, and what Government doesn't, but they don't have it and a ton of our internal legal mechanisms are designed specifically to prevent it.