>America is a police state. I thought this might be what you are getting at. I suspect that, if you find somebody who has lived under the Stasi, or Ceaucescu

>America is a police state. I thought this might be what you are getting at. I suspect that, if you find somebody who has lived under the Stasi, or Ceaucescu in Romania, or in North Korea or Burma, or various other examples of actual police states, they'll fall all over themselves telling you how good you've got it. >What is the point of looking at that list and saying "well we aren't that bad"? Haha, people might be less inclined to visit me if they thought that the secret police might jail them for thought crime? I dunno what to say other than "it's good to keep some sort of perspective". I certainly don't deny your criticisms are valid. I just think both societies have a whole lot more to go before they qualify as stasi-esque police states.