Terri

Something that people use to say because it was true. It's no longer free but it seems for the most part that not enough of use realize that and do something about it while we are still able.

The two party system; Character assassination prevents good candidates from running. There are no term limits and there should be. People make careers of being in office and are focused on amassing power and money rather than representing the people. Too much money is needed to even attempt to run. Political contributions from corporations and PACS amount to buying influence or the candidates themselves. Attempts to regulate the flow of money is a complete failure. Hard money and soft money? Please!

It's not that simple. Specifics are impossible to state "off the cuff". However, the things that can be simplified here: Term limits for all as was the intention of our forefathers. Serious limits on corporate donations, elimination of lobbying and lobbyists would be a good start.

It's free is it? You've forgotten about the Patriot Act. That foot high? book of laws that just happened to be already in print after 9/11. Yes, the book of laws, suspension of freedoms and limitations of rights that was approved by a Congress and Senate that didn't even read the book in its entirety before voting. The majority of Americans haven't a clue (including me) as to what exactly is in that book! Let's first find out just how free we really are or aren't as the case may be.

catwoman

I used this favorite retort in response to kids who denied my right to use a play space or say something unpopular. Other kids used the phrase as did grown-ups when they challenged the grocer about the price of bruised fruit, or went before the Board of Ed about the location of bus stops. Before learning about the first amendment to the constitution, I inferred that we each had the right to express and act on our right to freedom of speech, and equal access to public
spaces... I also inferred these rights were limited.

Politics used to be denigrated about "political deals worked out in smokey rooms. Compromise was fashioned and and legislation, and a presidential agenda could take shape. Come election time, party loyalty was expected. Otherwise, politicians crossed party lines, and each party encompassed membership across the political spectrum. Since the seventies the two parties split primarily over "values" and "lifestyle," too dichotomized and vitriolic bodies. The sole focused has narrowed to attaining dominance. The dirty politics of yesteryear
allowed political action even across party lines.

DocumentedBlackLegal

In the context of the absolute, I would think it means a place where an individual is free to explore avenues that eventually leads to satisfying his/her most basic needs and desires.

In the context of this country where race and social stature take precedence I have no idea what it means.

There is nothing broken in politics; what is being witnessed today is the virtue of the instituition given what inhabits it at this time. In other words, put air in a balloon and it will take the shape air dictates by acting on its characteristics; put water into that same balloon and what do you get? Is there anything wrong with the balloon?

I dare all media to expose the employment practices in this city; I dare you all to investigate the margins between profits and cost of operations; I dare you to investigate why more Black and Latino men are unemployed and underemployed than any other ethnic group in this city. I dare the media to expose the motive behind this phenomena. Then I dare you to pressure and keep the pressure on corporate citizens to change their ways.

pia

It used to mean you have the right to choose your religion and how you live your life. Now it means everyone is free to live - and die - as they please. It can also mean one can "roll over and die" without anyone stepping in to stop you from dying.

Freedom and responsibility need to find a balance. Democracy does not happen if companies can fund campaigns and rich can vote with their money. Corporate welfare does not equal human welfare.

Political campaigns should be run only with public funds. Public campaign funds should be available to those who can collect a certain amount of individuals to support their candidacy. Corporations contribute to politics only by paying money into a public campaign fund that distributes funding for all candidates. Public media should be made available to all candidates in equal share.

The more education about democracy, politics and society there is out there, the better it is for the entire nation. How about political debate workshops for passer bys - in shopping malls, commuter transit halls, etc? http://soapboxevent.blogspot.com/

Mike S

I feel that yes one has the right to do and say what they want as long as they don't infringe on anyone else's rights. I also feel that the discourse should be civil and within standards of decency.

I feel that money is what's wrong with politics. The money raised and spent is obscene. How can we ever know who and what is influencing our legislators.

We need fair and affordable elections. We need full disclosure about where money is coming from. Their should be limits on how much is spent, to open the system. This would truly make our government a Democracy...Tea Parties, whatever...let people decide. The two major parties are not representing us...

Also we don't need career politicians...We need term limits. We limit the President...why not the Congress which has so much power....

Thank you

Demeter

I no longer know what this means because it has been so distorted by corporate input into legislating and legislation. Voters are regularly ignored even when they vote for legislators who claim to support certain policies. A perfect example is my Congressman who as a Democrat did not vote for the Healthcare Bill or the TARP. This is not an insignificant veering from the party platform nor is it the only time he hasn't supported party positions. I don't expect straight party votes but his are ridiculous. What the opposition offers is even worse on many other issues of economic importance! I am fuming in a way that makes Tea Partiers look whimpy but I have nowhere to go!

We no longer talk about actual problems in concrete details, and one party is simply acting like a three-year old: my way or no way! The media treat all information as if it were true without making any attempt to verify it or challenge it. People do not understand how much of our Congress and our laws are pushed and manipulated by corporations. We are in the process of becoming a Corporate Oligarchy.

The public now accepts emotional talk as if it had the force of "Reality." If the economics of this nation hadn't been destroyed by 25 or 30 years of foolhardy economic philosophy, the Tea Party would be getting nowhere. People are activated by disappointment and frustration-driven anger. Mostly they don't have facts and they don't understand what is happening to them; they are just angry.

More talk that is really specific not bromides and baloney. When Carly Fiorina was asked yesterday which "radical" environmental groups her opponent was supporting she couldn't name one! This is exactly the kind of "throw out an accusation" that is never verified, never forced to become specific. I want a real discussion not the kind of trading of vague positions that you get on the Sunday morning encounters. I want numbers and facts not ambiguous sound bites. I want BS revealed instead of my having to go to Politifact to find out. I want people to understand that the increase in productivity that they created over the 90s went primarily into corporate profits and into corporate CEO's (and others') pockets. It wasn't shared by working people.

Keep your interviewees feet to the fire. I want to know specifically what they are offering -- no more vacuous, ambiguous plans. I am tired of these politicians pointing out the weakness in the other guy's argument but offering nothing that is any better -- just more emotional nonsense that feeds anger.

Jawbone of an Ass

We are free to believe what we want unfettered by a state sanctioned religion.
We are fre to pursue our ideals and improve the lives not just of ourselves but of others.

The only thing that makes the extremist candidates of the right so formidable is their willingness to crash and burn for the cause.

I don't know how else to explain a Christine O'Donnell, Sharron Angle, Carl Paladino or a Jim Russell (who already augered in over in Westchester thank God), except to compare them to those who go to flight school, to learn how to take off, but not to land.

They may have taken off upon a wave of anger and frustration, but they clearly neglect the part that says you have to have the skill-sets to land safely as well.

We should beware these insurgents may gain enough momentum to actually rotate, gain office, and fly for awhile like some dopey looking birds trying their wings for the first time if good people are complacent enough to simply sit back and point and laugh.

I have to admit some of the things they have said are pretty funny in a Three Stooges kind of way.

What's not so funny is the damage they can and will cause, have now "pledged" to cause, if we do stand by and do nothing. Nevertheless, even looking at the statistics that would argue otherwise, I remain wary of statements like "hasn't got a chance in hell." Rick Lazio, for one, clearly took his endorsement for granted and oopsie! Dropped the soap!

He's now been called to heel by his masters to support the Warlord from the Northen Provinces.

All it takes is one torpedo in the water to ruin your whole day.

Stop the money. Cut off the funding, not to government but to politicians. PJ Orourke says "Don't Vote it just encourages the bastards". I say stop sending them money.

Recognize the fact that anger and frustration are not good tools for good government. See above.

LivinginBrooklyn

We live in a country where the resourceful and interested can speak their mind, engage the political system, and have an impact on the direction of their community, city, state or the country. We can do this without fear of retribution, imprisonment, or physical harm.

The election system is broken. Money dominates everything in politics in America. Elections are packaged as a commodity, influence often comes for a price.

Eliminate the current free for all of financing of elections. Make all elections whether for President, Senate, Congress or Initiatives publicly financed at a greatly reduced level. Limit lobbying expenditures to a greatly restricted level.

Bob R.

Nothing, indifference, a figure of speech. 'Can I have that donut?'
'Knock yourself out, it's a free country'.
It's a faint reflection of a once vital and sustaining mythology.

The Democratic Party (the Republicans are beyond repair)

Destroy the Clintonian/Wall St. wing of the Democratic party, harness a new majority to crush the GOP once and for all.

IRENE HACK

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A FREE GIVT. WHEN WE GOT A STIMULUS MONEY FROM BUSH, IT WAS MONEY BORROWED FROM CHINA..............

SOUND BITES ARE JUST A FAST AD BY A GOOD AD MAN. IT DOESN'T MEAN THAT THE STORY IS ALL TRUE

I BELIEVE OBAMA IS DOING A GREAT JOB, HE JUST NEED A BETTER AD MAN TO GET IT OUT TO THE COUNTRY

HEAR MESSAGES GIVEN TO US, SO WE UNDERSTAND ALL THE WORDS. OBAMA IS A BRIGHT, CARING PRESIDENT. THE NATION NEEDS TO KNOW THAT.

oscar maldonado

free country means i can do anything i want

everything, ppl need to chill out...religion is an old boring arterie in this universe and its method to survive has taken many lives,..its true i dont have the power to understand evryones heart and i guess thats whats wrong in the first place.

first of all the u.n needs to get a spokesperson that has cojones and immediately fix the problem in the middle east,..i would have the world sell or trade all their weapons to a one bank under the u.n, and have food or money in xchange for these arms and have the rest of the world collect destroy and take all that metal and start making computers and everyone will get along!

I think that this iniative can only be made by the powers of only one man if he has the will to do it, i hope that its not that difficult for our 21st century mind,..Mr President Obama is a good candidate!
:D

Hal Morris

It's another slogan and slogans aren't really my thing. I want a bumper sticker that says
"Question Bumper Sticker Slogans".

Let's just say I want freedom for myself and others, and we need practical freedom, not just formal legal freedom.

Muhammad Yunus ('Banker to the Poor') is an example of spreading practical freedom without changing any laws, and indeed creating a broad based market system in communities where only a theoretical market system existed before.

The dark side of the Internet is it gives myriad groups the facility to build their own "Echo Chambers" that they can go into and then make up their own alternative universes.

Eliminating Gerrymandering might provide the biggest bang for the buck (or the amount of effort) to reform politics. My hunch is one thing that stops liberals from going after it whole heartedly is that various ethnic groups want their safe seats, and fear they won't be represented without them, but the current system of splitting the body politic up into "safe seats" has favored extremism. Areas where conservatives and liberals might overlap or negotiate something incorporating something of the wisdom of each side are of little interest in deciding elections, and so of little interest in congressional debates.

(TRYING TO DEMONSTRATE/EXPOSE MASS PRODUCTION OF "RIGHT WING FORWARD" EMAILS)

This is a brief summary of some things I've been blogging on TheRealTruthProject.blogspot.com.

I think a good case can be made that a very high volume of political emails -- those that say "Forward to 10 friends if
you care anything about this country" are (1) being churned out en masse, and constantly recycled by a small group of
activists, (2) are highly reliant on carefully devised deception, and (3) are having a very large impact on public
opinion in the U.S. -- enough to have a major impact on elections.

I also have in mind strategies for learning more about them, so as to get some objective factual data on (1) how widely they really are read and believed, and (2) their possible origins.

I believe much of the appeal of "New Media" in which I include these emails, comes from the belief that it is a sort of "people's media" and hence more trustworthy than what is put out by mainstream institutions. That might make these emails, which never reveal who wrote them, particularly vulnerable to exposure, especially when it is show that they are full of deliberate cleverly devised deceptions and lies.

This seems to me very urgent. If interested in pursuing this, or knowing more of my rationalle for these conclusions, or even referring me to someone likely to take an interest, write to me: hal@panix.com.

Irishfyre

The USA provides an opportunity to be free to do as you'd like without harm the community. In exchange for freedom, each person has the responsibility to protect the community from harm.

too much money needed to run for office - money = power. The people in mass did not even matter - when so many millions marched against the war in Iraq.

That afternoon, George Bush was quoted (NYT ?) as saying it did not matter what the people wanted.

It was options like this that leveled the playing field.

1. If only 1, I'd focus on EACH child's development from 0-6. Republicans and their Democratic Allies act like children fighting in a sandbox.

2. Let the tax cut for the wealthy expire so we can address the deficit issue, perhaps in 8 years the US will have a surplus again.

3. Free media for political campaigns. Impeach Supreme Court judges who argued that corporations can have "freedom" to manipulate the globe. Neo-colonialism is entrenched so much that nation-states no longer have sovereignty -- corporations create economic incentives that make having national borders a wasted expense - now poor migrants, immigrants are forced back to "hunting and gathering" metaphorically following "the food" even as corporations out-source, down-size, and thrive on offshore tax shelters and complain that taxes are too high.

4. Stop putting Wall Street in the White House. Cut the puppet strings controlling Timothy Geithner and expose the the puppeteers who hold them.

etc.

Patty

Freedom of speech, action, thoughts, with the innate understanding that with freedom comes responsibility. We are responsible to educate ourselves so that we can exercise our freedoms intelligently and meaningfully. And we are responsible to not use our freedoms to hurt others.

Politics and politicians have completely abandoned the American people. We have become the silent majority, our voices hijacked by corporations, greed, and special interests. Our two political powers have become so focused on numbers that they have both lost sight of who they are supposed to be respresenting.

Disband both the Republican and Democratic parties. Create laws that make it illegal for political parties to grow past a certain size. Encourage the development of many political parties that more closely follow the views of their members. Make it illegal for any campaign contribution of any kind from any person or corporation (or LLC) to be larger than $100 and send anyone who breaks this law (on the giving or receiving end of the transaction) to jail with no possibility of parole or plea bargain. Make the jail time longer for back room deals. Set a budget for all campaigns that they are not allowed to exceed with serious consequences if they do - like permanent expulsion from politics. We live in the world of online social networking and web videos - do we really need to spend a couple of million on TV commercials when that money could have created jobs for Americans who are about to lose everything? The media should actually be practicing journalism again. All news agencies should become public like NPR and talk shows that pretend to be news shows should be forced have a constant statement denoting their purpose of entertainment and who is financially backing them if they are a polical talk show.

The truth and all its facades!! I'd like to see modeated discussions from people of differing viewpoints that inculde ALL viewpoints, the moderates as well as the extremists. I'd like to see a website that empowers the average American caught in the middle of this windstorm.

George Saade

Free to choose.

Virtually everything.

?

Your listeners can enjoy real success in all things, just tell them to take the pledge and “join the club.”

The I-CLUB that is.

To Join:

Website:

http://WeTreatEveryoneTheWayWeWouldWantToBeTreated.com

Email:

i-club@comcast.net

Thank you.

George Saade

Uncle Mus

There's room for all! People, Religion, Sexual orientation and Political views.

Extreme polarization! No one wants to work together to solve the issues. It's thier solution or no solution. Lack of polictical will or desire to compromise.

Politicians should start leading and stop following pubic opinion polls.

JMG

It means we are free to speak our minds.
This should not be confused, as it seems increasingly to be, with being entitled to what we say. The latter
requires good reasons. The former requires a mouth. (Check it out in the dictionary.)

The cost of running for office is totally out-of-hand. The difficulties
of running as a challenger are overwhelming.

One cannot 'fix' life's persistent difficulties, but the answers are embedded in the description of the difficulties.

Your expression "it's a free country"
does not really address our difficulties , and in fact, in our age it just encourages babble. Anything of importance is put off by the implied expression of equality at the level of one's mouth.

lennief

Freedom allows us to do what we wish so long as it has no affect on others. But that "affect" includes doing nothing which impinges on other citizen's rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That necessarily implies a functioning society with rules (both criminal and civil (drive on the right)) that we do not have the freedom to ignore because we don't personally like them. That means helping others through our taxes, being polite, or otherwise and accepting the decisions of our elected representatives (although we can peacefully protest) until the next election if our candidate loses.

Three big things: money, professional politicians and polls. The money part is obvious. Term limits solves #2. The polling problem may not be obvious though.
Politicians now tell us what the polls say we want to hear and do what they want when they get to office. (the Uniter not Divider is a perfect example).
Without public polling (or reporting it), they would have to tell us what they would actually do because they couldn't temper their campaigns otherwise. We could then vote for people we do agree with.
Moreover, the ignorance of the information delivered is scary. The wording of the questions is never revealed especially by the press reporting on it, but that drastically can change the results. Moreover, everyone (press included) doesn't know the meaning of the margin or error. In fact, if A leads B by 6 points in a poll, and the margin of error is 6, they could be tied, or A could be 18 points up. It just means there is a probability, usually 95%, that the true result is within 6 points of the reported one.

polls is scary.

The money and term limits are hard to fix systemically especially after the recent supreme court decision.

Polls we can do something about. Stop reporting them as if they are news. They're not news.

Also, the press has to stop accepting uncritically number statements that politicians and advocay groups make. A minor bit of thought would indicate that they're nonsense. As a simple example, the crowds watching parades in Manhattan are physically impossible - literally so - but are reported without question. That doesn't matter, but when someone claims something that might affect the common weal, question the premises and logic
And if the response is a non-sequitur or talking point, for pete's sake, say "so".

Specific, sourced factual data, so that we can check it out even if the press doesn't. We will often find that the factual claims go back to a single source who was wrong. One good example is the canard taht we only use 10% of our brains.

Jeff Pappas

Its a free country means I can make comments without fear of censorship or arrest. I can photograph anything happening in a public space and any news worthy event that may happen in a private / public space like a Mall or Airport. I can carry my camera/to go bag with me anywhere I go , along with a bottle of water and a first aid kit.

The Whole Thing ! Its too bad that in order to get into Politics you have to be the type of person who is willing to twist words ,avoid questions , have wealth, seek out the far sides and divide and conquer people. But for what means, your own Power ?

Prohibit religion and religious issues from being used in running for office.
Make it mandatory that facts are used in discussions, policy and law. Take up the same rules of debate that are used in high school. Get rid of all lobbyists. Have the Presidency , Senate and Congress be one 5 year term so no one would do things just to get re-elected. Have first and second choice options at the polls so other parties or independents have a real chance at getting elected
Decriminalize Marijuana and most other "drugs", all we get from our current laws is the creation of a super lucrative black market, which is where MOST of the death and violence comes from. This in turn costs us billions in enforcement , prosecution and prison.
Tax these substances and pay for all the Americans who need health care. Those who drive under the influence are still prosecuted. Those who are abusing and hurting themselves can go to a clinic to get rehab. The rest of us can finally relax and smoke a joint or grow some plants.
And create a Law that defines NEWS as a neutral and fact based endeavor!

Ask hard questions, follow up and do not let politicians avoid them or parse words.
A lot of reporters from the BBC follow this practice.

wishfor

Although it often seems to be used sarcastically, I hope that more people take it seriously and learn to respect opinions that do not coincide with their own. We need to do more serious thinking as "individuals" and discard the "group-think" which is making us ever less free.

What is broken is the ability to effect our government as individual voters. The power of "big money" has increasingly destroyed the power of individual voters to make a real difference in what happens in our supposedly democratic government.

I would limit the size of corporate or other campaign contributions and make the names of all contributors readily available for public viewing.

Keep up the good work!