Gee, maybe the degree of control matters. The US still has free and fair elections, with orderly transfers of power and in general a lot of freedom and civil rights. Syria sends the army out killing unarmed people for daring to protest a crappy clan-based inherited dictatorship spanning back to the 60's, which has proven absolutely brutal in maintaining control and creates a thick atmosphere of oppression. Are you afraid for your family's physical safety if you say the wrong thing in private conversation in the US?

I do still disagree with maintaining the Patriot Act though.