I mean, when I was a student I organized an anti-war rally in 2003. I was called into the president's office and the president of the university told me to cut

I mean, when I was a student I organized an anti-war rally in 2003. I was called into the president's office and the president of the university told me to cut it out. So, not hard to imagine that happening further up the chain. I mean, I didn't get shot or put in jail, so there's that. At the same time, the US ignored rather large protests and proceeded to get around 1M folks killed. I think that's a reasonable summation of freedom in the US- the folks with the power know they have it, so it's more a question of "stern talkings-to", and then they do whatever the folks who own the place want to do. Which, I suppose is "freedom". Not a very satisfying freedom, at least from my point of view.