It's a free country

Tanzania's flag

I forget which country's flag this is... (kidding, kidding)

A conversation I have had somewhat frequently with international friends over the years is about freedom and why America loves to proclaim that it's a free country. My friends aren't angry or anti-America; they are just curious Norwegian/Korean/Canadian/Dutch/Australian/Ghanaian/British/etc. people who find it interesting that many Americans proudly announce that their country is free.

I don't think I've ever done that myself, but word gets out, thanks to the media. And it's true - drive through Anytown, USA, and you're bound to see some banner announcing that American soldiers fight for our freedom, or watch TV for 10 minutes and a politician's ad will come on during a commercial break and talk about how he promises to keep America a free country. Actually, I suppose I have said it before myself - I remember being a kid and telling my parents I didn't have to eat my mushrooms if I didn't want to, because it's a free country.

What my international friends find so interesting is that in their minds, all of their countries are free, too. However, they don't feel the need to have it as a national slogan and proclaim it so frequently. They don't quite get why Americans think they live in the only free country. And it's true - I have a strong hunch that if given a survey that asked Americans to check one of the following options, most would choose the last one:
I feel that...

1. My country is less free than most other countries.
2. My country is more free than most other countries.
3. My country is the most free country on the planet.

There are probably some reasons why folks feel this way, starting back with the founding fathers and all that, and I'm sure if you ask an American history and political science person to tell you about it, they'd be happy to do so. A lot of it is just culture and tradition. Americans like to talk about freedom and feel special and free, the message continues to be pushed by all sorts of people for reasons both good and bad, and it's become kind of become a unifying slogan we shout and believe.

All that being said, after living in Tanzania for quite a few years, there is something to be said for the freedom of that country. For example:

• You can put your child in a car seat if you like, or not if you don't. It's your kid, and you are free to choose. 
• You can go with any mobile phone company you like, and there is never any contract. You're free to have as many SIM cards for your phone as you wish and change them in and out, because it's your phone, and you can do what you want with it.
• If you're renting a house, you can paint and decorate it however you like. It's a free country. (Some exceptions may apply, but not where I lived.)
• The idea of making a rule of "no shoes, no service" has not yet hit Tanzania. You are free to go shoeless and walk into stores in that state if you wish.
• Should you wish to transport 32 people in your 15-passenger van, go for it.
• There are not road signs every 20 feet advising you to go more slowly around an upcoming curve or telling you to keep right except to pass. It's a free country, you can keep on going the speed limit for the road around that curve if you like, which hopefully your eyes will tell you is coming soon.

I read a book (Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale) that is set in the future after the US is taken over by some folks who take all the power into their own hands to run society according to how they interpret the book of Genesis. One line in it stuck out to me. I can't quote it exactly, but it said something like, "There are two kinds of freedom: freedom from and freedom to." The point was that in the new (creepy, legalistic) society, everyone was protected and had freedom from, whereas in the "old America," they had freedom to do all sorts of things, many of them harmful. (Personally, I would put having 32 people in your van as a "freedom to," one which is quite frequently harmful.)

And since this blog post is already quite long, I'll end it here. I only wish to state that there are a few different kinds of freedom, and many free countries. I felt very free when living in Canada and in Tanzania, and sometimes life under all the rules there are in the States is actually quite constricting. I miss the freedom of Tanzanian life. That being said, I also feel significantly safer when driving down the road in America.