[gavinlit]

It's the land of the free right? So why shouldn't people protest? What's happened to your country? It sounds like there's a significant proportion (although still a minority) of people who would prefer it to be some kind of quasi police state. "You must support the government. You will not protest. Trust us, we are your government".

How can you talk about exporting democracy (a fragile concept to begin with) when you don't exercise the freedoms that are supposed to go with it in your own back yard.

When you couple these types of restrictive attitudes with a large military force, aggressive foreign policy and arrest & imprisonment without charge, it kind of makes the whole 'democracy, freedom & the greatest country on earth' thing seem a bit hollow.