Free And Not Free

 The United States of America is known as the “Land of the Free” for many reasons. As a kid I thought it was because you got free condiments, free drink refills, free use of public restrooms, etc. while most of the rest of the world makes you pay for them. The current Pandemic has shown just what the “Land of the Free” really means.

Freedom of movement under United States law is governed primarily by the Privileges and Immunities Clause of the United States Constitution.

The only time Freedom of Movement was legally restricted for American Citizens within the US was by the Confederate States and Territories (South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina and the Territories of Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma) from 1861-1865 when the Confederates required Exit Visas for Confederate Citizens to go from one Confederate State/Territory to another as well as for leaving the Confederacy altogether.

 Since 1870 there have been no legal restrictions on American Citizens either entering/leaving the USA or going between an American State or Territory.

In March 2020 some US States and Territories tried to close their borders with other US States and territories (including making checkpoints at the state line and refusing entry of American Citizens living in other US States.) Every single time that happened the Courts voided the restrictions and laws as unconstitutional (both either the State Constitution, the US Constitution or sometimes by both.)

The US Federal Government never banned American Citizens from leaving or entering the US.

Canada: Section 6 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms allows Canadian Citizens to freely enter/exit Canada as well as to freely move around any Canadian Province and Territory.

Despite the law every single Canadian Province and Territory have closed or continue to close their borders and refusing entry for Canadian Citizens from other Provinces and Territories.

The Canadian Federal Government never banned Canadian Citizens from leaving/returning to Canada.

Despite Canada self-isolating itself from both the International Community and every Canadian Province and Territory self-isolating itself from each other large parts of the country are still dealing with their 3rd or 4th wave of Cases. Since the Canadian Federal Government has not done its job in getting enough Vaccines for its 39 million citizens the United States has had to donate Covid Vaccines (in March 2021 and in June 2021) the same way it has donated to Third World Countries (ie. Mexico, India, etc.)

The Canadian Federal Government has never banned a Canadian Citizen’s right to Freedom of Movement, but every single Canadian Province and Territory has – making Canada not part of the land of the free.

The European Union (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and their territories): the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and the European Parliament and Council Directive 2004/38/EC of 29 April 2004. Freedom of Movement within the European Union is one of the “Four Freedoms” the EU has.

Despite the free internal movement laws of the EU as a whole and the individual national free movement laws of most EU Member Countries the EU closed it’s internal borders meaning EU Citizens from one EU Member Country were banned from entering another EU Member Country.

The EU Central Government and the Governments of every EU Member Country have banned an EU Citizens right to Freedom of Movement within the EU– making the EU and every EU Member Country not part of the land of the free. 

The true sense of a country and its people is how they deal with an Emergency and you can clearly see which places and which people failed to respect their own laws and so failed their Citizens overall.