France burqa ban goes into effect

I found myself thinking quite a bit about this story, after I heard it on NPR.  Their rationale is that the burqa oppresses women by definition and creates separation between cultures.  My first thought was that this could never happen in America - we just don't tolerate the government telling people how to express their religious beliefs (as it should be).  But I also thought that it's fair for them to say, "this isn't 'France'" - to say, in essence, if you want to live this way, you have to do it somewhere else.  Among the argument against the ban is that it violates the rights of Muslim women, stigmatizes Muslims and is a thinly veiled attack on Muslims (pun intended).  Ironically, I think lots of Americans would like it very much if we could have this law in America (at least regarding burqas) - even though we don't want the government to impose rules on us, we seem to desire the government to impose rules on people we're not comfortable with.