Two entire states have legalised cannabis? Cool. Australia doesn't have stop-and-frisk anywhere, and certainly doesn't have politicians proudly calling for support of the practise. That's a pretty fundamental abuse of freedom right there, that for no reason, an authority can just stop you and search your person. Yes, there is police harassment like anywhere, but it's not codified into law and openly defended by politicians. As for 'unusual' punishments, excessive sentencing is a 'cruel or unusual' punishment.
My point was that the US is not the bastion of freedom that it's PR suggests. I was pointing out the US Bill of Rights still doesn't prevent these abuses from happening, as people seem to mythologise that document. I've mentioned in other threads that the level of freedom between the two countries really isn't that dissimilar - it's just that the idea that the US is the paragon of freedom above and beyond its contemporaries just simply is not true.
Anyway, I mentioned two things about Australia that you are apparently debunking: that we don't edit the constitution in the normal process of politics, because it requires a referendum to do so; and that we don't fear our neighbours like people in East Germany did. I said "Australia is not a bleak wasteland" and you say I'm glossing over reality? I wonder if you've ever been here, or if you merely think The Road Warrior is a documentary? If you happen to be Australian, then you've got a massive dollop of cultural cringe going on.
It's certainly not a police state as the OP put forward, and neither is the US or the UK.
My point was that the US is not the bastion of freedom that it's PR suggests. I was pointing out the US Bill of Rights still doesn't prevent these abuses from happening, as people seem to mythologise that document. I've mentioned in other threads that the level of freedom between the two countries really isn't that dissimilar - it's just that the idea that the US is the paragon of freedom above and beyond its contemporaries just simply is not true.
Anyway, I mentioned two things about Australia that you are apparently debunking: that we don't edit the constitution in the normal process of politics, because it requires a referendum to do so; and that we don't fear our neighbours like people in East Germany did. I said "Australia is not a bleak wasteland" and you say I'm glossing over reality? I wonder if you've ever been here, or if you merely think The Road Warrior is a documentary? If you happen to be Australian, then you've got a massive dollop of cultural cringe going on.
It's certainly not a police state as the OP put forward, and neither is the US or the UK.