Something I've Thought About as Well

Work in Progress has a post up that expounds on thoughts I've had as well (Link here.) Snippets:

If I do not want to accept the government in place, I do not have any meaningful options for remaining where I am and avoiding it. If I fail to pay my property taxes, or violate federal, state, or local laws, I shall be imprisoned as surely as if I were a serf on any manor. We do not make a meaningful choice to accept our government in America or anywhere else.

It used to be that if you no longer could accept the situation you were living in, you could pack up your stuff, take a risk, and go where you would be less fettered. That time, I think, is over - and it raises interesting questions insofar as what happens now that there is no longer a safety valve for the disaffected? There are no more mountain men. There is no new frontier. We can't hop a freighter to the Antares Maelstrom. Mos Eisley exists only on film. Everything and everywhere is regulated.

It is true that we are generally more free now in America than anyone else in the world ever was, though we are at the same time probably the most regulated people that ever was. It stems at least partially, I think, from having a far more complex society due to technology. Both aspects, I mean.

But one question I've never been able to shake. Is our modern freedom of speech really around because we believe in it, or because it generally doesn't matter what anyone says any more. I cannot shake the notion that people used to be persecuted for what they said because it used to be thought that what they said mattered. Now no one cares what idiocy anyone espouses, but it seems like that's largely because no one takes it seriously.

An excellent point - especially for us doing our (admittedly tiny) part here on the electronic soapbox.

Does what we say matter? Are we ignored because nobody takes it seriously?

Comments?