Human Freedom Index (idea)

Well, folks, when I first read this, my reaction was one of simple shock. How could my own nation, the US, have been given a 33/40, or a B-?!

I thought I'd hurry up and node a rebuttal. I copied the list of rights into notepad and started sorting through them.

I don't like what I see.

First, I looked at the list as might someone totally brainwashed by the system. I was forced to discard:

• The right to social and economic equality for ethnic minorities.
• The freedom from capital punishment.

This gave the US a 38/40, or a high A. Yay us.

I then started thinking, as nearly as I could, in a completely objective way, and went back through the list. I kicked out:

• The right to a prompt trial.
• The right to freedom from arbitrary seizure of personal property. *
• The freedom from compulsory religion or state ideology in schools.
  See also: DARE, abstinence, Vietnam War
• The freedom from torture or coercion.
• The right to travel abroad.
  Tell me again, when did we go to war with Cuba?
• The personal right to equality of sexes during marriage and for divorce proceedings.

Barely made a B that time. The 32/40 I gave us shows that I grading harder than the UN did, or we've gotten less free. Take your pick.

Final round. This time, I was an absolute devil's advocate, leaving us with only those freedoms that I could find no reason to scratch off the list. I mercilessly wiped away:

• The right to peacefully associate and assemble. **
• The right to teach ideas and recieve information.
  Spoken with Cmdrtaco lately?
• The right to an ethnic language.
• The freedom from compulsory work permits.
• The freedom from extra-judicial killings or "disappearances".
  Read the newspaper for a straight week.
• The freedom for political and legal equality for women.
• The right to being considered innocent until proved guilty.
• The personal right to homosexuality between consenting adults.
• The freedom for multiparty elections by secret and universal ballot.

The US, "Land of the free, and the home of the Brave," gets a 23/40. 57.5%.
Flunk out, go work at a fast food joint somewhere.

I'm eighteen years old. What kind of nation is this that I'm going to be living in?

* Many people have had property confiscated due to drug charges that were never brought to court.

** I'm a college student. Some of the things I have read about in the campus newspaper make it a miracle this one made it past the second pass.

I realize that this might be seen as one of those 'highly subjective writeups,' but I really think it's high time for some discussion on this. Any comments, by all means, respond below. As an American, some of the things I realized as I was typing this, to be blunt, really frightened me, and I think it needs discussion.