For the people commenting on democracy;
"Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time."
- W.Churchill
Democracy really is a pretty inept form of government but in any group over a few thousand people it's the best one we have found.
As for personal freedoms, I do not believe income tax to be oppression as long as there is complete transparency with budgets - if the government is spending the peoples money people deserve to know what the government is spending it on. Personally I favour a state that leans towards the left with higher taxes and more money being spent on health and education and don't believe I support oppression in doing so.
I believe real oppression is creeping into our western societies though with a deterioration in basic human rights in the name of 'security' from terrorists - in reality a very minor risk - the ridiculous amount of CCTV in the UK could easily be abused, Guantanamo bay is a travesty and the Patriot Act a dangerous step.
Also saying 'If you want to see real oppression see...", there are many things worse than what the West is currently at but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try and improve.
