Question, Oh Questions (& Answers)

1. Is there a country with more freedom than of the U.S?

Since our country never fails to mention our numerous freedoms and how grateful our citizens should be to have them compared to other countries, I was wondering, is there countries with more freedoms then the U.S? With a quick google search I found my answer. The answer isn't as simple as I thought it would be due to the fact that we can't exactly measure freedoms. But,(there's always a but) I did find that 18 countries have more economic freedom than America. How is that so?

Well, first let me tell you what the countries are.
 The list of 18 countries that rank higher than the U.S. are:

1. Hong Kong,
2. Singapore,
3. New Zealand,
4. Australia,
5. Canada,
6. Switzerland,
7. Oman,
8. Ireland,
9. Mauritius,
10. Bahrain,
11. Finland,
12. United Kingdom,
13. Chile,
14. Zambia,
15. Taiwan,
16. Denmark, 
17. Estonia and 
18. Kuwait

You've probably never heard of some of these countries. It's okay, I haven't either. I did some extra research to see if these countries have always had these freedoms and how well there economy was. I had to make sure that the freedoms didn't leave a negative effect on the country or what would be the point. Unlike Greece, who's freedoms were blown out of proportion  Hong Kong's economy is doing very well as well as the other countries.  But Greece has a lot of other problems that I'll research on a different lame Saturday night. Anyway, as far as how long the countries had the freedoms, based on my research most of the countries got the freedoms after America did. 

So the answer to my question is yes. There are countries with more freedoms then of the U.S but there are limits to them and they vary. To read more about this topic  check out the link below!

http://www.munknee.com/2012/09/18-countries-now-have-more-economic-freedom-than-u-s-here-are-the-details/


2. Is the freedom of speech really the primary freedom?
What are the limits on other freedoms without the freedom of speech?

From lots of research I have concluded the freedom of speech is a human need while the other freedoms are not as much. Yeah, we need to express our feeling in some kind of manner, do we really need to  be restricted on that?Other freedoms still exist without the freedom of speech but they are very limited and do not have as much impact as usual. The freedom of speech allows us to express the other freedoms through media and without it we really wouldn't know as much as we do about all the other freedoms. 

For example the freedom of assembly would barely exist without freedom of speech. How are we going to get people to assemble without some sort of media letting people everywhere know about it? Its the same for freedom of press. Without actual ideas from speech would the press have any value? What can they publish and what can't they?  For freedom of petition, we can't protest for anything if the freedom of speech is taken away. Freedom of petition is nearly nonexistent without the freedom of speech. To protest you need protesters, and for protesters you need the media.  Freedom of religion is probably the most least impacted from freedom of speech since the media doesn't mention religion too often.

So from all the information above I conclude that freedom of speech is not the primary freedom, but without the other freedom would not have as much impact. The other freedoms would still exist without the freedom of speech which is why freedom of speech is not the primary freedom. 

Until my next post!
-Nandhini Ravichandran