you didn't come right out and say so, but I'm going to presume that you're talking about a driver's license, mike. so, let me ask you this . . . how do we keep idiots, and those who might endanger us on the roads, if not through a licensing regime? admittedly not a perfect system, but my guess is that it works to the satisfaction of maybe 99% of us . . . regardless, I don't need a license to take a bus to wherever I want to go. :)

mike, mike, mike . . . why resort to baseless (you've never met me) and meaningless insults? hurts your case more than it helps it, don't you think? anyway, lemme see if I've got this right . . . I can come and go as I please; live where I want to live; eat as much reasonably safe food as I want; whenever I want; work at whatever I want to work at; go to whatever school I want to go to; learn whatever I want to; worship or not, as I choose; speak my mind how and when I choose to (like here); drive reasonably safe cars; on reasonably safe roads; even retire to foreign countries (like costar rica) after earning a good living here . . . yet you tell me the people running this place are my "jailers". what am I missing here? would love to know why you aren't "free to leave" by the way. but the irony that you nevertheless find this country to be the best option didn't escape my bline eye, or my feeble mind.

your comment, mike, in case it wasn't obvious from MY last comment, makes the unstated PRESUMPTION that all jailers are created equal. what if they weren't?

hey mike, what if I voted for, and got, guards who agreed to house me in a palace; who let me come and go as I please; who fed me gourmet food when and where I wanted it; and who agreed to do my laundry for me? sounds positively awful. yeah, well the jailers I happened to vote for are doing their level best to keep my air and water clean, my food safe, my shorelines free from invasion, my skies fly-able, my streets safe to walk, my cars safe to drive, my workplace safe to work in, and on and on and on. it's such an awful prison, in fact, that I'm honesly surprised, with the freedom you have to leave, that you actually still live here. as for me, I'm just about deleriously happy to have these guys as jailers . . . but then again, I'm probably just bliss in all my ignorance. :)

this is yet another ridiculous quote that fails completely on two grounds: first, if you vote, the government IS you; and, second, the money you send this government is being spent BY you and, more importantly, FOR you (unless you think, for example, that national defense is for the benefit of some other country, or the FAA regulates someone else's airspace, or the FDA protects someone else's food supply, or the EPA works to keep someone else's air and water safe, and on and on). maybe armey knows of some way to get all that wonderful stuff for free . . . give me a break.

when was the last time you saw a bank step into, or out of, a voting booth? also, when was the last time a bank influenced YOUR vote? give me a break. still, I'm hoping you took steps against corporations gaining any more influence over elections. did you? :)

what a ridiculous qoute. unless you don't vote, the government IS the people.