What is the "Freest" country in the world right now??

[Fendius]

Curious what we all think on here...

[IDFbunny]

1. Antarctica

[Fendius]

2. Well put

:toast:

[WeDidIt]

3. Sweden

Sweden is the freest nation on earth.

[The Straight Story]

4. Whichever one allows the most personal free choice - from abortions to smoking, gay marriage to guns

etc and so on.

The one that really believes your body, your choice - from what you eat, to where you go to drink, where you work, what you own at home, whom you choose to spend the rest of your life with, etc and so on.

America it is not, and if those on the far right and left have their way, never will be.

Which country out there most values free personal choice? Hell if I know. I just know it is not this one. Too many fundies here wanting to tell others how to live and what is best for them.

[Zynx]

11. At the same time I would not rate Europe very highly on the personal freedom index.

Very difficult to own a gun there. Additionally there are large constraints on speech and even in some countries religious affiliation. Britain is a police state where you are constantly under surveillance. This is a difficult question to answer.

[Oregone]

5. Define "free".

Some would say Somalia. Is freedom always a good thing? Is it but a component, in the proper balanced mix, that can help a society?

There is also a difference between individual freedom and economic freedom, and those two often combat eachother

[Silent3]

14. Here's a good way to define the most freedom you could hope for:

The maximum freedom that allows everyone to exercise the same degree of freedom, under rules that you'd agree to not knowing ahead of time whether or not you'd be in a weak or powerful position in society. (Google "John Rawls".)

This kind of freedom is obviously very different from what you get with the kind of anarchy in a place like Somalia.

[RC]

25. Somalia is not really free. To be truly free, you do need respect. Both for yourself and for others.

Somalia does not have this. They use fear. That is not freedom.

[Oregone]

26. The anarchy, conflict and terror is, in many ways, a result of their freedoms

And it destroys other people's freedom. Freedom is very subjective.

America is free, only so long as you can afford it. Freedom is not equivalent to realistic options. Options do not exist if you cannot afford to make a choice, or there is an armed man in a road blocking you from making it.

[Ikonoklast]

6. Somalia.

Libertarian Paradise.

You are free to expoit your fellow humans by the use of force, no taxes, no real government with any power to interfere, no rule of law..

You get the picture.

[The_Commonist]

8. That's exactly what I was going to say.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QDv4sYwjO0

[IDFbunny]

10. You sold me. Im packing.

[chollybocker]

7. The Vatican?

Even the laws of nature don't apply.

[Fendius]

9. Hilarious

Im glad we all have our sense of humors out this evening,) That was funny stuffs

[LynnTheDem]

12. The world's oldest democracy...

Iceland.

[billyoc]

13. Somalia.

[Mr. Ected]

15. The Netherlands.

The only place on the planet where you can smoke a joint while walking through the Parliament complex.

[Canuckistanian]

17. Or even a Police station

Although you'd be ordered to take it outside.

[Canuckistanian]

18. In Saudi Arabia, you'd have freedom of religion. As long as it's Islam..

In Iran, too.

[Fumesucker]

19. Portugal too..

It is apparently not at all well known that Portugal has essentially legalized *all* recreational drugs.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/03/14/portugal/

[Mr. Ected]

21. Absolutely Stunning Country As Well.

I guess now you can have some pot with your port.

[Dark]

30. I spent a few days in Lisbon. They walked up to you, saying "Hash, hash cocaine hash" ALL the time

We we're eating dinner outside a nice restaurant, and one guy came up to us with drugs. Another with trinkets.

It's crazy, but they do that on the beaches in Barcelona too.

God I miss Europe...

[bemildred]

16. Do we want to be "free" or do we want to be "secure"?

And "free to do what?" is an excellent question too.

[Mike 03]

23. Great post and excellent questions. NT

[ContinentalOp]

20. The freeist country is one in which people are free to live without worrying about food, shelter...

and health care. A country where people are free from wage slavery and the illusion of organized "leisure" time. I don't give a shit about guns, and free speech is honestly overrated. I think some restrictions to speech, such as Germany's banning of Nazi speech are reasonable. People in the U.S. worship the Bill of Rights far too much and ignore the fact that we are all forced to give up the real day to day freedom of our lives to do shit we don't care about to make money for somebody else. Freedom can't coexist with the concept of "work".

I don't know what country this is or if it exists, but I'm sure there are several freer than ours.

[Mike 03]

22. In a weird sense I would pick one of the poles, probably Antarctica, which I

studied to write a screenplay about.

Freedom, to me, means being able to live or die on one's own terms, without laws or rules, and you can't find a place more neutral, in that respect, than the south pole, to the best of my knowledge. It's not easy to survive there, but it as free as you can get.

Other countries I am tempted to nominate would be:

Australia

New Zealand

[Mr. Ected]

24. I Hear Australians Work More Hours Per Year

Than either their Japanese or American counterparts.

Not necessarily a knock on their freedom, but the work/family balance seems way out of whack.

[canetoad]

28. Where did you hear that?

[ZombieHorde]

27. Sparta. nt

[Dark]

29. The Netherlands, overall. But, for symbolic protection of freedom, the U.S.'s bill of rights

certainly does give us a unique edge.

Still, its implementation leaves us wanting.

As far as actually using and being able to exercise their freedoms, I'd say France is probably one of the best ones.