If you grow up living in a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panopticon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panopticon and are repeatedly told it is there to protect you fr

If you grow up living in a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panopticon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panopticon and are repeatedly told it is there to protect you from evil doers not good people like yourself, is your resulting behaviour still truly that of a free person, or has your behaviour been modified? I live in a rich western democracy which has no capital punishment, torture, extraordinary renditions, executive executions and about 1/5th as many people in prison by population. I don't think it terribly polite to tell friends how to conduct themselves but I feel for all my countries considerable shortcomings, for the most part we conduct ourselves in a way which is morally superior. I continue to be surprised that a country founded on some very high minded principles (equality, separation of powers, rule of law etc) seems to be continuing to develop down a path increasingly at odds with other highly developed democracies and I continue to wonder with a free press and a politically involved citizenry why that should be?