Maybe my American friends can tell what this is....

That word died over the last decade when they took our rights away and "My way or the Highway" puppet of his VP the true master at destroying the good ole USA, separated the parties to a point that is beyond ruin! Glad I moved to Mexico, because the good ole USA is on a self destruct trip and the great experiment of true democracy will be a failure! tdemex

Truthfully, no one has real liberty. Americans enjoy more rights than most countries, and even those rights have limits.

Sounds like your "friend" just had a knee-jerk reaction to what she deemed as you butting into American business.

First, I don't think it's a "game" but I agree that some (maybe many) treat it as a game.

Second, to me, Liberty is the freedom to speak my mind. The freedom to earn a living doing something that I choose to do. Or the freedom to be a stay at home mom. Liberty and freedom isn't perfect. It has it's limits. It has it's trade-offs.

Do we have it or do we think we have it? I think it's a little of both. As I said, it does have it's limits. But no form of government is perfect. Even if there were no government some would experience less freedom than others. The weak would experience no freedom while the strong would enjoy more freedom.

I think people give up liberty and freedom when they chose (or are forced) to become part of a society, or when they chose to become emotionally attached to another. I mean, you can be a hermit living in a cave, or live alone on some uninhabited island, and have all the liberty and freedom you want...why not, there's no one around who says you can't. but find someone you really care about and marry them, and soon you will be chosing not to do some things, because that person doesn't want you to, will harp on you about it, ect. Now, throw in a society, with it's laws, it's rules, and it's tabboos, and well, you have given up much of your freedom for the safety of the numbers.

Well, personally I get your point, in the first place. And I don't see anything wrong with your expressing your opinion about American politics. For heaven's sake, we Americans express our opinion about politics and situations in other countries -- all the time, constantly, I see it online.

I feel that liberty is the ability to go about your business and speak your mind without fear of intrusion or loss of privacy, the ability to confront one's accuser, and more but I'm not writing an essay today lol. I do not feel there is complete liberty. Back when the Patriot Act passed, we went further backward, certainly not forward. The major political parties co operated in these actions, that's my point of view.

How silly to block someone you once considered a friend over that. Honestly, to me it shows a closed mind -- says much more about that person than about you, that is for sure.

With liberty...comes responsibility and accountability. The minute we began crying for the government to save us from poverty....or pay for our food, homes, cars, healthcare....we gave up our liberty. That was a while back, wasn't it?