Some of the Nordic states are trailing runners up.
There are also currency controls for taking money out, etc. Iceland is still in severe shock.
I want a government accountable to the people, and the right to bear arms was meant to ensure that. The removal of arms turns a citizenry into subjects.
Our current US government wields powerful weapons called: Justice, Democracy and Law. The government is controlled by a few, who are making decisions behind closed doors that only benefit themselves. They have the mechanisms in place to enforce the will of the state against any human being for any reason.
You can be accused of anything by the government. You can be locked up without due process. Just because you don't see it everyday, doesn't mean that it's not happening. It's here in the USA.
Remove the weapons from the state. Forbid the use of force and violence against any citizen that resides in the USA. We should be focused on Peace, Truth, and Justice. Do no harm to yourself or to others.
Peace can never be delivered at the end of a a weapon or a writ of law. it must come from within.
peace
Actually, this is part of the point I was trying to make -- democracy and law are weapons of the people, not of the government. The whole "murrica is the only free country because we have guns" mantra is getting more than a bit tiresome. Not just because it's old and untrue, but also because it's a race to the bottom: because of gun laws, your government now uses grenades and body armour to maintain order. That's not peace nor freedom.
What I was trying to point out was the innate fear and distrust between American citizens and the state. It's become so ingrained that "I won't move to another country because they won't allow me my guns" is apparently valid reasoning among the thinking 1% of the population.
I could have phrased it a lot less bitter than I did though, and your response made me put in the effort. So thank you for that.
My family. I have a dream of moving to Iceland, Norway, or Sweden and becoming an expatriate. My wife and children do not share that.
Educate them about the risks.
What's really not-easy is being thrown in federal for running a website, or publishing, or pissing off the wrong inner party member.
One thing to keep in mind if you move out of the US is that you will be subject to double-taxation as a US citizen. So technically if you want to reject the system you need to leave the country and lose the passport.
http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/when-us-citizens-livi...
Compared to where?
1) If we all abandon ship, who will be left to argue that this is wrong?
2) A number of countries in Europe lack substantial protections for the freedom of expression. This stuff is only known in the US because its extremely difficult to shut people up.
3) A number of countries are as heavily, if not more heavily, invested in using the tools of the state [surveillance, etc] against the domestic population.
4) The simple fact is if the Government [in whatever country] puts you on their list of people to destroy, you will be destroyed 9 times out of 10. There is substantial xenophobia in both the US and Europe that is fueled by a combination of terrorism, wages, immigration, and a "Fuck you, I have mine" mentality. The US may be swinging heavily in one direction at the moment, but many European countries have been as bad in the past.
5) Please list countries which you consider "enlightened" and I'll tear them down to size if that is your desire.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/01/opinion/the-french-surveil...
> Mr. Valls, who announced the bill on the day after the deadly attack at the National Bardo Museum in Tunis and as France still reels from the terrorist attacks in Paris in January, has assured the nation that the bill “is not a French Patriot Act,” a comparison to America’s post-9/11 law. But, in a statement on the bill, the Digital Council, which advises the French government about technology’s effects on society, referred specifically to Edward Snowden’s revelations of the extent of United States government surveillance, warning that the bill proposed by Mr. Valls would open the door to similar excesses in France.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/24/france-big-brot...
> The constitutional council made only minor tweaks to the legislation, which human rights and privacy campaigners, as well as the United Nations, have described as paving the way for “very intrusive” surveillance and state-approved eavesdropping and computer-hacking.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/mar/03/french-pa...
> French parliamentary deputies, defying government wishes, have voted in favour of penalising smartphone makers which fail to cooperate in terrorism inquiries, entering a controversy that has pitted the FBI against Apple in the United States.
Similar laws exist in other EU countries.
It's time to go. You can still access us-east-1 from the civilized bits of Europe, you know.
It has now been between 2 and 10 years since the time where it became totally unreasonable to continue living there while other options are available to you.
Don't wait until the trumped-up federal charges. Move now.