A reader from down under reminds me that in Australia not voting is against the law. I think many Americans actually think they live in a free country because they have the right to vote for jerk A or jerk B. And please don’t write me with a list of all the freedoms we still have in America that people in other countries don’t have. I know that and agree with you. What you should say is that America is a relatively free country; it is a free country compared with most other countries. No country is a free country when its government tells you which plants you can and cannot grow in your backyard.

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