“It’s a free country”

Will Creeley of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, on the PBS NewsHour tonight:

”There’s no official party line, as an American, about what we think of Charlie Kirk or anybody else in this country. That’s the beauty of American pluralism. Like we used to say as kids on the playground, it’s a free country.”

[My transcription. Will Creeley is the son of Robert and Penelope Creeley. “Like they say” is a well-known Robert Creeleyism. I wonder if it lies behind “like we used to say.”]