33 ms·

Devil's advocate: they imprison a lot of their own citizens (more per capita than any other country) and play empire across the world.

• pron 12y ago
  Right. Still, I find it strange that almost all attacks on personal freedom in America have been done by private businesses (or in the name of private business), and almost all defenses against such attacks have been placed by the US federal government, and yet some Americans still trust private corporations -- that have hurt them again and again -- more than the government that has rescued them from the clutches of corporations time after time. If there is one country in the whole world that should definitely trust its government more than its corporations, that would be the US.
  • watwut 12y ago
    Might have something to do with incarceration rates in united states and ridiculously high sentences/consequences for essentially small offences. If something qualify as attack on personal freedom, those two things do. Corporation can not lock you to prison for some petty offense, unless it has cooperation from government.
    • saraid216 12y ago
      You realize that most prisons are privately owned and actively lobby for excuses to imprison people, right?
      • DanBC 12y ago
        https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7851672 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7851672
• nknighthb 12y ago
  The obviously relevant US government (since it's the one that ended slavery, fought the robber barons, passed the Civil Rights Act, recently passed health insurance reform, and has limited powers compared to other western democracies) imprisons 216,896 people[0], or less than 0.07% of the US population. State governments are not "the US government". If someone says "the US government", they are either referring to the federal government, or need to do a great deal more research before speaking about US governance. [0] http://www.bop.gov/about/statistics/population_statistics.jsp http://www.bop.gov/about/statistics/population_statistics.js...
  • lilsunnybee 12y ago
    The Drug War was started at a Federal level, with the Controlled Substances Act and the creation of the DEA (US Drug Enforcement Agency). [1] Approximately 1 in 10 Americans have been arrested on drug related charges since then, and even just looking at Federal prison facilities, 0.5 million people are incarcerated every year. [2] And that's just drug policy. Abuses by Federal agencies are numerous across history into the present day, and have often taken place on a grand scale: FBI misconduct: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fbi#Controversies http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fbi#Controversies CIA misconduct: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cia#Controversies http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cia#Controversies US Military Interventions since 1890: http://academic.evergreen.edu/g/grossmaz/interventions.html http://academic.evergreen.edu/g/grossmaz/interventions.html [1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Drugs http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Drugs [2]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_incarceration_rate#Drug_sentencing_laws http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_incarceration_rat...