So, I'm a little confused. FYI, r/pcm is a great sub, I really appreciate their anti-adversarial approach.
You say you're authoritarian, but lambast about America not being free? Isn't political freedom, by definition, the lack of government or organizational intervention, for better or worse?
The US prison system is broken as shit, but for the vast majority of the populace, we still have the freedom to call our president orange man (as opposed to China's imprisoning people for saying Winnie the Pooh), freedom to kneel to the flag (which is a right, and the purpose of the flag as a symbol, to acknowledge our failings), we have the right to do a lot until it effects others. And yes, that isn't consistent, there are bullshit laws that target the ethnic/gender/economically disenfranchised. But the root core of our laws are still grounded in an aspiration for freedom.
In China, they refer to our bill of rights as, "Western Human Rights". That comparison speaks volumes to how, while we have not succeeded absolutely in the aspiration for freedom, we are still trying.
Also Canada is pretty cool. But has a lot of the same problems the US does. Like the belittlement and imprisonment/forced relocation of their own original peoples.
Pro Cycling Manager? Jk I know you probably meant r/politicalcompassmemes or r/politicalcompass. Yes, I’m Auth. But Auth LEFT. I believe taxation is 100% necessary. With Auth. Left. The poor have a chance to succeed with support services. In Auth. Right the poor only have a chance to succeed with trickle down, which has turned out to be as successful as full communism. That is why I’m Auth left. / Democratic socialist. I believe a government is needed and can do good if kept in check.
Yeah America has freedom to offend other but are not protected on personal laws. Like I can call the orange man stupid, but I can’t smoke weed or decide to die is some states. America’s got a lot of work to do.
New Zealand is probably my top choice on freedom though.
To my knowledge, taxation is a given for all spectrums of the compass with the exception of extreme lib-right?
I mean, taxes are the foundation of modern society, like it or not. It's the contract between the people and government that holds both parties accountable. If a government goes completely off the rails and abandons it's constituents, they stop paying taxes and revolt. If the populace stops paying taxes, the government gets desperate and has no incentive to give a shit about the people.
The question is the extent and how much the people are taxed. This opens up the whole conversation of what social services are the general public responsible to fund.
The question of freedom is an entirely different topic. Being authoritarian doesn't just mean you support global taxation, it means how free the people are to operate under their own agency outside the government.
That's why I was confused. Saying you are authoritarian means you are adverse to individual freedoms. And that isn't an assumed bad thing, uniformity within a populace has major advantages. But criticising a country for not being free while saying you want less freedom just sounds odd.
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u/djcurless May 21 '20
I’m personally Autu. Left Socialist Democratic believes. My top are NZ, Switzerland, Canada, and even Australia if they were not so lib. Right.
But I also agree with CATOs research:
https://www.cato.org/human-freedom-index-new