Is America Still The Land Of The Free?
I’m Susan Allen welcome to Open Range. According to a 2010 CNN poll 56 percent of both Republicans and Democrats think the government is so large and powerful that it poses an immediate threat to the rights and freedoms of ordinary citizens. After spending time in Costa Rica’s cattle country I couldn’t agree more. Back after the break. Immersing myself in Costa Rica’s cattle/sabanero’s culture has encouraged me to take a more politically active stance against big government. I met quite a few folks who had relocated to Guanacaste's dry rainforest region from the states to raise horses and cattle. One fellow on a dappled criollo mare politely leaned down towards me and explained that after living in Costa Rica he realized how many freedoms he gave up in the States. He’s right, I noticed this especially in the children because without a nanny state, kids ride bikes everywhere, sometimes in tandem, one on the handle bars and I might add for you helicopter moms without helmets. ( Statistics both in Norway and the US have shown that our stringent helmet laws actually have curtailed bike riding among teens.and preteens ) Michelle Obama wuld be surprised to find that in this rural region there are no “bad” foods, or attempts to remove meat off school menus yet I never saw an obese kid probably again because they’re outdoors riding bikes or walking everywhere. Seat belts, cell phone, riding shotgun with mom or dad even sipping a beer while you drive is left to your discretion like the good old days when I was a kid, before two glasses of wine at a nice restaurant could make you a criminal, yet you will get arrested if you drive drunk in Costa Rica. As I waited two hours at our understaffed customs ( I thought there was a job shortage) to reenter the states and then another to go through insidious security it broke my heart because I realized that the man on the grey mare was right we have ceased to be the land of the free and become the country of taxation and regulation.
