In fact I think that you can have a functional Democracy without any freedom. That's kind of what I mean. I don't think that people are interested in freedom and I don't mean that to sound like a tea party fan. I just think that this place wouldn't be the way it is if people were genuinely interested in freedom...in fact it's such a nebulous term that it's almost meaningless.
Remember in Braveheart where Mel WahtsHisFAce rides in front of the soldiers waiting to go into battle to establish yet another monarchy, "What will you do without freedom?" That's a great summation of Americans arguing about freedom during an election cycle. We are an open society. We are a little d democratic society. I don't think that we are a free society.
Sorry for the blahblah blah stuff. It's just been on my mind a lot for some reason. Back to the salt mine.
It's dependent on the voters making the correct decision on who to elect.
There's a reason why people hate our politicians.