Of course the Yahoo Finance people associate being "down" on America with an alleged loss of "freedom":
We’re No. 33!
That’s the bottom line in a new Gallup poll measuring the extent of freedom in 135 countries.
Only 79% of Americans say they’re satisfied with their freedom to choose what to do with their lives, down from 87% in 2008. [Ed: Yeah, like the "freedom" to buy food, receive education, make some discretionary purchases, etc...]
The top five nations where people feel most satisfied with their freedoms are New Zealand, Australia, Cambodia, Sweden and the United Arab Emirates. [Ed: Oh boy, our friends 'down under' should take some solace here in case they didn't realize this... hey mates, you're "free"!... ;)]
At No. 33, the United States is sandwiched between Bahrain and Cameroon.
Gallup doesn’t define “freedom” [Ed: Whom among these libertarian people ever does?!?!?] in this poll, so citizens of different countries are likely to interpret the word differently.
Still, changes over time show whether people in a given nation feel their freedoms are improving or deteriorating. The United States is one of the few places where freedoms appear to be on the wane. [Ed: Poor libertarians!]Probably an interesting poll result but of course coming out of the Yahoo Finance people we get the typical libertarian spin on it.
2 comments:
I just finished delivering a sermon on the decline American exceptionalism, with most of my facts being from this article by Peter Beinart: The End of American Exceptionalism
I would be one the ones voting for a decline in freedom in the US since the over-the-top response to 9.11 and the ensuing Global War on Terror that turned out to be a frontal assault on human rights and civil liberties, which Obama has further amplified.
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