# How long do you think the USA will remain a "free" country/society? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 10, 2015, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-think-the-usa-will-remain-a-free-country-society/740105 "2015-12-10T19:44:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2015, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-think-the-usa-will-remain-a-free-country-society/740105/1 "2015-12-10T19:44:13Z")
How long do you think the USA will remain “free”? - that is, a country and society of freedom/liberty? I’m not defining ‘free’ - that’s the point, for everyone to define, themselves. **Edit** : Wow, huh, for some reason the poll question text I entered was \*How long do \*\*friends \*\*think the USA will remain “free”? \* Ah? Mods, please edit? ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2015, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-think-the-usa-will-remain-a-free-country-society/740105/2 "2015-12-10T21:08:34Z")
“Forever” isn’t meaningful: the universe won’t exist 100 billion years from now, and that’s not even a tiny part of “forever.” We’re fairly safe for the next fifty years, at least. Probably longer. But we’re never going to be totally safe. The forces of fascism are never still. ---
**Author:** ![NeonMadman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/58f4c7/32.png) [@NeonMadman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NeonMadman)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2015, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-think-the-usa-will-remain-a-free-country-society/740105/3 "2015-12-10T21:20:55Z")
We will always be completely free to do whatever the government tells us to. ---
**Author:** ![NeonMadman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/58f4c7/32.png) [@NeonMadman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NeonMadman)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2015, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-think-the-usa-will-remain-a-free-country-society/740105/4 "2015-12-10T21:22:08Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Wow, huh, for some reason the poll question text I entered was \*How long do \*\*friends \*\*think the USA will remain “free”? \* Ah? Mods, please edit? Oh, wait, we were supposed to answer this from the perspective of Ross and Rachel? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2015, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-think-the-usa-will-remain-a-free-country-society/740105/5 "2015-12-10T22:53:39Z")
The US has been on a break since 9/11? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2015, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-think-the-usa-will-remain-a-free-country-society/740105/6 "2015-12-10T23:08:20Z")
We’ve certainly got over a year. Beyond that, who knows? It only takes six years to completely turn over the entire government, and constitutional protections are ineffective in the face of a public who wants to decrease freedom. ---
**Author:** ![Robert163](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4af34b/32.png) [@Robert163](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert163)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2015, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-think-the-usa-will-remain-a-free-country-society/740105/7 "2015-12-10T23:34:27Z")
We have more freedoms now than we did 25, 50, 100, 200 (etc)\* years ago? Why would we make any presumption other than that we will continue to gain more freedom? \*(well, drugs were legal 100 years ago, or, at least, 150. I guess you can find some examples of where we are less free now than we were then.) ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2015, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-think-the-usa-will-remain-a-free-country-society/740105/8 "2015-12-10T23:39:20Z")
The US as a free nation was stolen out from under us while we were busy clawing at each other over hotbutton issues selected to distract us. ---
**Author:** ![Nelson\_Pike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Nelson\_Pike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nelson_Pike)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2015, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-think-the-usa-will-remain-a-free-country-society/740105/9 "2015-12-10T23:42:52Z")
We are so free that it is impossible for us to ever be unfree. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2015, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-think-the-usa-will-remain-a-free-country-society/740105/10 "2015-12-10T23:50:02Z")
Nothing lasts forever. Certainly the U.S. will last another 50 years. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2015, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-think-the-usa-will-remain-a-free-country-society/740105/11 "2015-12-11T02:57:29Z")
I give it about another generation . . . maybe 25-30 years. Censorship will be the key issue, whether from the left or right. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2015, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-think-the-usa-will-remain-a-free-country-society/740105/12 "2015-12-11T03:05:19Z")
If you ask my in-laws, who spent World War 2 in an internment camp, they’ll tell you the U.S. is a damn sight more free than it used to be. I suspect a gay person or an African-American or even a woman my age would agree. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2015, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-think-the-usa-will-remain-a-free-country-society/740105/13 "2015-12-11T04:09:13Z")
Forever is a long time. I don’t make predictions that far ahead about ANYTHING. So, I voted for 50 years because I’m not worried about fascism or foreign invasion. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2015, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-think-the-usa-will-remain-a-free-country-society/740105/14 "2015-12-11T05:54:14Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > If you ask my in-laws, who spent World War 2 in an internment camp, they’ll tell you the U.S. is a damn sight more free than it used to be. I suspect a gay person or an African-American or even a woman my age would agree. This basically. The United States is probably about as free as it has ever been on balance. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2015, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-think-the-usa-will-remain-a-free-country-society/740105/15 "2015-12-11T17:34:46Z")
> [@NeonMadman](#): > > We will always be completely free to do whatever the government tells us to. > [@Scumpup](#): > > The US as a free nation was stolen out from under us while we were busy clawing at each other over hotbutton issues selected to distract us. This. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2015, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-think-the-usa-will-remain-a-free-country-society/740105/16 "2015-12-11T17:48:40Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > If you ask my in-laws, who spent World War 2 in an internment camp, they’ll tell you the U.S. is a damn sight more free than it used to be. I suspect a gay person or an African-American or even a woman my age would agree. It depends on which freedoms a person prioritizes more. Way back when, a gay person or an African-American or a woman could legally drink beer at any age, smoke tobacco or pot at any age, or gamble. Today no one can legally do those things, at least in most states. So if one prioritizes those things, freedom has decreased. If one prioritizes sexual freedom, non-segregated schools and buses, women being legally allowed to hold all jobs, then freedom today is greater than a century ago. As for whether the USA will remain a free country, it depends on whether the American people believe in freedom and fight for it. Watch this: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaMl365GfR0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaMl365GfR0) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2015, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-think-the-usa-will-remain-a-free-country-society/740105/17 "2015-12-11T18:16:02Z")
Freedom to discriminate, or freedom not to be discriminated against? Freedom to take it all, or freedom to have a share? Freedom to hear only what you want to hear, or freedom to have an equal voice? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2015, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-think-the-usa-will-remain-a-free-country-society/740105/18 "2015-12-11T18:20:27Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > It depends on which freedoms a person prioritizes more. Way back when, a gay person or an African-American or a woman could legally drink beer at any age, smoke tobacco or pot at any age, or gamble. Today no one can legally do those things, at least in most states. So if one prioritizes those things, freedom has decreased. Unless there was a white man in the vicinity who objected and told them they couldn’t. Actual freedom, as opposed to theoretical freedom, has increased for everyone who isn’t a straight white man.