Rip Pisacreta wrote:
> >As a result, we lack many freedoms that those
> >in other nations such as The Netherlands enjoy.
> Could you list some of those freedoms, please.
Sure, here are a few:
1. There are no laws restricting consensual sexual behavior between
adults in the Netherlands--compare that to the sodomy laws in the majority
of US States.
2. Prostitution is legal and regulated, thus allowing women to make their
own choices concerning their bodies and providing them a safe environment
in which to do so.
3. The _private_ possession of all drugs--and public use (in coffee
houses) of cannabis is not prohibited. In the US, over 68% of all Federal
prisoners are incarcerated for simple possession and the majority of the
inmates in prisons for drug possession in the US were convicted of
marijuana possession.
4. The age of majority agrees with the age of military service. In other
words, if you are old enough to fight for your country, you are old enough
to drink or marry. In the US, you can be drafted and shot three years
before you are "mature enough" to drink!
5. Homosexual marriage is recognized as a valid choice in the
Netherlands. It is specifically EXCLUDED from the definition of marriage
in the US by the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
6. Public nudity in designated areas is acceptable and legal--in the US,
it is totally banned in most states except on private property which is
not visible to the public--and even then, many States ban it entirely.
7. Youth are accorded the same legal rights as adults in the criminal
justice system in the Netherlands; in the US they are tried in a different
system and there is no requirement that they be "guilty beyond a
reasonable doubt" before the court can convict them--nor are they
guaranteed legal representation, etc.
8. "Status crimes," with the exception of the age of consent and a
minimum age to purchase alcoholic beverages, do not exist in the
Netherlands; in many US States a teen can be sent to a reformatory if the
parent simply states that s/he is "incorrigible," despite having never
broken the law.
9. A physician may prescribe ANY medication s/he deems appropriate for a
patient; in the US certain medications cannot be dispensed, despite
medical proof that they are beneficial (i.e., heroin cannot be prescribed
to a person suffering from a particularly painful form of terminal cancer,
even though it is the best medicine for the job).
10. Medically assisted suicide is legal; in the US (Oregon excepted) a
physician can be sent to prison for assisting a dying patient in ending
his/her life.
11. In the Netherlands, a cartoonist could legally depict the Queen being
thrown out of an aircraft by anti-monarchy forces (it would be in poor
taste, but legal). In the US, the same artist depicting the President of
the US in a similar circumstance could be sent to prison for his/her
actions.
12. American public schools (an extension of the State) have the right to
restrict the political speech of students by censoring their writings in
newspapers, forbidding clothing which represents an unpopular political
view, or setting speech codes. This is not true of Netherlands schools.
Those are a few examples--there are many more.
Rick
--
Rick Adams
Department of Social Sciences
Jackson Community College
Jackson, MI
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
"... and the only measure of your worth and your deeds will be the love
you leave behind when you're gone. --Fred Small, Everything Possible "
