It’s the #1 piece in the Lifestyle section, but there are a few protestations, such as this one.
And my response:
Ah yes, personal freedom.
Have you been to a US airport lately?
Can you smoke anywhere in NYC?
Have you tried to operate a lemonade stand?
What you DO have in abundance are cliches like that one, but all I see is evidence that your “personal freedom” has been declining for decades, while the market for sentimental “Live Free or Die” t-shirts and other reassuring kitsch has been booming.
It would be more accurate to say that Americans have millions of Chinese made t-shirts with slogans ABOUT “personal freedom” — but actual freedom? Maybe in Texas or Alaska.
I think you misunderstand Canadian tort completely. And you are awfully defensive about the US system, which — can you really deny this — has made your country LESS free thanks to overarching fears of being sued for sneezing the wrong way.
Those rebellions were a long time ago. Quebeckers are an expensive pain and most of us wish they would separate, but one assassination, one kidnapping and 100 blown up mail boxes forty years ago is nothing compared to the stats that show that 8% of your population (black) commits almost half the violent crime, to the tune of thousands of murders, rapes and robberies.
Stats show that Canadian and American murder are remarkable similar — until you factor in, no, not guns, but race:
Sad but true. Alas, we’ve let in a lot of Jamaicans and Somalis since those numbers were crunched. With predictable results.