All you have to do to appreciate the freedoms we have in the US is to travel to another country and observe the way / where they live, the cars they drive and their gun culture, for better or worse. We have tremendous latitude in almost every aspect of our lives here in the US, sadly, there are many in DC that would like to change that for us. There are certainly things we can do better but our country is diverse in land, people and culture more so than any other country I can think of.

I recently returned from Scotland where I put 772 mile on a rental car seeing the country. My observations reminded me of what we have at home. All of the cars are similar in size and style with some fancier than others but not unlike. Virtually no trucks seen with the exception of a couple Ford Rangers. Most of the cars are in like-new condition, no old clunkers or modded-out rigs and certainly no trucks with jumbo tires about. The drivers I observed were professional, none of the BS you see in a typical day running around town.

Most of the population lives in two major cities, very few own guns or hunt for that matter. All of the private land is owned by roughly 1,100 people so little access for most common folk. Hunting is mainly for population control purposes and the meat can be sold in stores for general consumption.

I can see how this may work for a small country with a long history but we in the US are much different, we began with a country with almost unlimited resources in land and raw materials, what we lacked were people and we eventually solved that problem. I grew up running airboats in the glades, buggies in the cypress and fishing and diving offshore. My trucks, when I was younger, had mud tires and lifts and wouldn't have it any other way (my current Chevy is running factor rubber and not about to change that). I've owned more guns of all varieties than I would ever be able to count, pistols, revolvers, semi-autos, bolt actions, etc. Most have been sold off, I've got more than I can use presently but that's ok.

I'm sure people are generally happy in various parts of the free world where they live but I can't imagine changing my American experience knowing what I know today, just doesn't fit what's important to me. For those who may be critical of our way of thinking, they should be reminded that we have paid with our blood and treasure for a couple hundred years and counting so we may be a beacon of freedom around the world.