I agree. I wrote the above before the announcement. It looks like the last remnant of justice just went south into the incinerator of Collectivism.

I doubt it, Herb. Hillary got a pass today. That tiny little ray of hope in the corner of the box is being swallowed up by an awfully big bunch of ills.

Reiteration.
We have allowed the freest country that ever existed to lose its freedoms in increments.
Can it ever gain them back?
Not in what's left of my lifetime, but there remains a tiny increment of hope.

If anyone writes that we've reached utopia, I would respond with your comments.

Its a war out there, and we all need to take sides. I got the distinct feeling that a revolution is brewing, and its the crooked, crony establishment vs the popular uprising of citizens against the way things are going. Thats the appeal of Trump. Hillary represents the crooked establishment who have bought and paid for her.

I got the distinct impression that the July 4 celebration, at least in Las Vegas, took a different turn this year. The celebration was strongest among the working people, who went out and bought the "illegal" fireworks and flaunted them in front of the police. The official fireworks displays were lame. The barrio was sending a message to the politicians.

so very true...

How’s this for starters:

The government can tell me who I can and can’t sell my goods and services to. I’m no longer able to choose my customers, but they’re still free to choose not to do business with me.

The government tells me who I can and can’t hire. And they tell me the circumstances under which I can and can’t fire them.

They tell me I must enter into a financial transaction with a private business (individual mandate), or face a financial penalty payable to that same government.

They not only make me enter into that transaction but they also steal money from me every two weeks and give it –unearned—to someone else as a subsidy.

I don’t think I could stand it if I was any freer.

Somewhere along the way, possibly at Pitt business school, I was introduced to the concept of the "Tyranny of rising expectations". I believe that it is inevitable, as long as we have free speech, that our celebration of real, as opposed to false, liberty will catch up to the political class that has gained control. The more we talk about it, the more we want it and the more we get, the more we want. At some point, the people will become violent or the government will grow more violent to restrict them. We despair because of what we see as an erosion of liberty but there is growing pressure to do something about it. Many little groups, like The Gulch, talk and post but there are others hoarding weapons and training in the woods.

It's been a while since I saw anything about Harry Browne, until this article. He is right on this one.

I agree with eveey bold heading and most of the article. Yet I'm still optimistic. US never lived up to to its ideals perfectly. In many ways it's gotten freer. So I certainly celebrate American Independence, not because we've realized the dream but as a reminder of the dream.