[john_bud]

Patriot Act = prime example of the bad effects caused by good intentions.

 

[john_bud]

I think one has to put things into historical perspective. How free were we in previous decades? Up until the 1960s whole segments of our society had little freedom, they couldn't gather, vote, speak etc without being detained or harassed by government officials. Books were banned and censored.

Until fairly recently, most of us couldn't carry firearms legally, certainly not openly. In many places you couldn't buy them without all kinds of restrictions. While many places still have restrictions, many restrictions have been removed. Many kinds of weapons were not available back in the day until they were allowed to be imported, then banned, then allowed again.

From my perspective, while flying and other things are far more restrictive, overall personal liberties have increased.

You're right. I blame the Democrat party and their increasingly liberal / progressive / socialist ideology. Just think what the country would be like if Al Gore had stolen the Florida vote! It would be 7-2 liberals on the bench. All the progress with the 2A we've seen in the past 11 years would have never happened, it would probably have gone the other way with further bans and restrictions like Clinton did. We'd probably be down to using bolt action .22 shorts for hunting and have 2 round mags max with a 10 round per quarter purchase limit. And having to bicycle or walk everywhere.