Our Exceptionalism Comes From Our Constitution
by Doug TenNapelI’m not a big Global Citizen. I’m not proud of how the world conducts itself, it has a terrible history and there’s nothing great about humanity other than we have a great Creator. Mankind’s achievement is only consistent in how spotty it is. Intelligence has only made us immoral with more knowledge. Technology has brought us ways to destroy more lives and project more misery with less effort and more efficiency.
Individual countries pale compared to America. So contrast my relative shame as a global citizen with my pride, excitement and honor of being a member of the United States of America. Our country is the best. I’d say that we’re not perfect, but I hate opening any kind of door for the America haters to drive their Prius through. We have good standards, fund charities around the world and have left more of our bodies in the graveyards of other countries to defend and expand liberty than any other country in the history of the world. Our economy is the singularity of the Big Bang from which prosperity flows to the rest of the world.
So it pains me to watch my President stand among the G20 leaders as he works hard to fit in with a bunch of really stupid countries. I admit it, I’m a jealous citizen and I don’t like to share the attention and will of my president with the rest of the world. He’s mine, not theirs. The world may think they elected President Obama, and perhaps even Obama may think that, but I don’t have a vote in the Global Community. I don’t get to participate in how China must conduct herself so I’d rather my president not give away our power, treasure and values to fit in with a global consensus of lesser countries than our own.
The U.S. Constitution is the rarest of documents and our execution of what it says has separated our country’s history from the rest of the world and made us objectively better. America is not a pile of soil. We aren’t a location. In fact, if we ever move the U.S. to the moon I’ll be the first on the ship and to hell with the Earth. The Global Community has no such miraculous document. It has no self-evident truth as its charter, instead it has global consensus.
The G20 anarchists held signs that read “One World” “One Country” “One Currency.” This should strike a barf-triggering chord through the heart of every independent American. I have no vow to Europe, no allegiance to Egypt. The president is supposed to represent me to Europe and it feels like he’s representing Europe to me. After all, the only reason Europe loves him is because President Obama will give them more candy than Bush. They didn’t hate Bush because of Iraq, they hated him because Bush wouldn’t sell us out to gain their acceptance. The G20 has their self-interest intact. Though many G20s have a corrupt charter, Obama is their work-around. Why reform your country to get better income when you can stay corrupt and Obama will redistribute the sovereignty of our economy to the G20?
Our country is not a peer of the G20. Our country is better than every other country in the world. Not because we’re white or black, or born in this or that hemisphere, or because of our GDP, but because of our values, our charter, our adherence to the Constitution. So the idea that we have just one vote amid twenty countries when we represent almost half of G20’s combined GDP is a foolish play on President Obama’s part. I long for the days when we stood for our values and held the disgust of the rest of the world in high regard.
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93 Comments
It's so refreshing to hear anyone unabashedly stand for America. Of course we've made mistakes, some of them calamitous, but overall, we have every reason to be proud, proud, proud of America. I've thought about and espoused American exceptionalism my entire life, even when I was a liberal. For me, the Constitution has been the well and fount of that exceptionalism. Tinkering with that foundational document without the consent of the people is the greatest danger the Republic and its exceptionalism face. Our economy is in the doldrums for the time being, but we'll bounce back, so long as the Obama administration doesn't continue to try to ignore that exceptional document which guarantees our personal liberty as well as our economic power.
As someone who has traveled extensively overseas and throughout the US, I wholeheartedly agree that America is an exceptional place. Americans are unique in their good natured motivations, in their honest and reasoned beliefs, and in their overriding sense of optimism.
The values which the great philosophers praise (honor, duty, loyalty, compassion, honesty, charity, responsibility, selflessness, self-improvement, etc.) are practiced every day in this country by average Americans, rich, poor or middle class, without a second thought and without compulsion. Not all of us act this way, but the vast majority.
This is not true in the rest of the world. In the rest of the world, the majority look to their government to solve their problems, they shun responsibility, they lack drive or energy, they dwell on the past. . . they do not dream of a better world. That is why we stand out and why so many foreigners don't understand us, and why those that do usually seek to come here.
And I agree this derives from our Constitution, which made everyone of us an owner of this country, not a subject of some monarch. Let's keep it that way.
Too true. And nothing is more depressing than how our own government, which owes everything to the Constitution, has been systematically seeking to destroy it since at least the 30's. Taking a constitutional law course and reading about the slow infringement on state and individual rights under such things as "the Commerce Clause" has only left me with a bad taste in my mouth and a despair in my soul. Watching my fellow students defend those same infringements has me fear for our country, and my University. Supposedly, we house the best and brightest but all I can find are articulate parrots.
Which is why I've resolved to fight this with everything I can. In my personal life and in whatever career I find myself in once I leave college, I will refuse to bow down to tyranny.
And Mr. TenNapel, I found Creature Tech while working at the library and simply loved it. It was so refreshing to find it among the American-way-of-life bashers and Che-biographies in our Graphic Novel Collection.
Doug,
I agree with every statement that you have made but I would like to point out that I will accept the greatness of other countries as an alliance in promoting the freedom of democracy. The countrie I will accept however are those that share the spirit of freedom. Our Amercian values did rise out of nowhere they developed for centuries in England before we ever came here. The Magna Carta, the House of Lords, the House of Commons, English common law. The insistence of rights of serfs in Shire and Moot courts beyond the authority of the crown.
This document you speak of was not "magical". It did not spring up over night. It is the end result of god fearing men who love freedom from Ancient Greece, Rome and England. This makes it all the more important. It is a document written in the lifeblood of men who stood up for freedom over centuries of our political evolution.
Thank you for posting this; it's nice to hear someone who's NOT telling us we suck.
America is exceptional because it IS everyone and I wish the haters would realize that. There is nowhere in the world that people have (or had if you're in a cynical mood) as much freedom as we Americans do. The eurosphere is bitter because they have lost their primary role in world affairs and want to make sure everyone is drug down to their level of ineffectualness.
Other countries have contributed to our Constitution through their accomplishments, but we're the ones that put it together and made it work. And there's still a lot of us out there who could make it work if we were allowed to, which is why it's so frustrating to see these lousy sock-puppet politicians insulting us to other countries.
I do feel that there are other countries that have shared ideals with ours yet we do not form the types of alliances with them to promote democracy around the world.
I want a new Globalism, a policy that recognizes the importance of the values of free republics and free markets. I want our foreign policy to be Free Market Republicanism. These are values that we conservatives in America share with like-minded people around the world. We let the left preach there vapid socialistic agenda overseas and we conservatives do not fight it. We must fight it globally. We fight it by supporting those that support what we support FREEDOM
Well said! As one who was born in a foreign country and is a naturalized citizen, I have an extra appreciation for America and its Constitution. I'm grateful to live here.
The winds of change are blowing and globalism is in the air. To be a patriot these days is to stand in the way of that and be labeled as archaic or worse. How long before standing with hand over heart while singing the 'Star Spangled Banner' at a ball game will be challenged by the ACLU?
"O! say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave"
i agree to a point. though, bush sr. was the one to start talking about the new world order, and under the g. w. bush administration there was the push for the amero currency; the combining of mexico, canada, and the us into the north american union; as well as the universal id with an rfid chip in it we'd be required to carry as personal identification [vs currently a license to operate a vehicle]. i dread the loss of culture. i encourage peaceful cooperation of nations, but the economic and cultural merging of them i highly disagree with. so far obama hasn't been much of a "change" at all, and it's rather disappointing.
I wish my Republican party was as patriotic and conservative as you, Mr. TenNapel. Our own president and our press may hate America, but all the peoples of the world would rather be here than there, and we must be doing something right.
Excellent, Mr. TenNapel. I believe that most thinking Americans, the ones not deluded by the galloping New/One World Order movement, wholeheartedly agree with the sentiments in this essay. I pray that the Constitution will be saved.
Very, very, very well said.
[...] Shashidhar Kumar,New Delhi added an interesting post on Our Exceptionalism Comes From Our ConstitutionHere’s a small excerptOur economy is the singularity of the Big Bang from which prosperity flows to the rest of the world. [...]
Good points. It is still true that we are "citizens" whereas the English are technically "subjects." The difference is important. We own our government, their government owns them.
And what that means on a practical level is that our rights derive from us, and our government may only do the things we allow it. Whereas, the English get their rights from the generousity of their government, and those rights can be taken away at the government's whim.
And let's not forget either, that the French Revolution happened right around the same time as ours and started out with the same kinds of lofty ideas. But they quickly fell into settling scores and trying to find a new monarch. Again, we are an exceptional people.
A cautionary word. "Globalism" is an economic concept that many or most conservatives and a substantial number of liberals support. "Global government" is another concept entirely. I have my musket and pitchfork at the ready if they try to impose that one on us. So far, regional and global trade agreements have not in any discernible way interfered with our national sovereignty. If and when they do, they must be avoided or abrogated.
I've also seen "new world order" used as if George Bush the First invented it. It's on our dollar bill, folks, and it's been there for a very, very long time. The fact that Bush said it in English doesn't alter its meaning. America, a new thing in the world, will be the shining example which other nations should rally around. And there again is that American exceptionalism. Let's not get the "new world order" of free peoples freely sharing democracy and wealth confused with Bilderberger or Tr-Lateral or even secret Masonic/Illuminati conspiracy theories. There was absolutely nothing sinister in what Bush was proposing.
Excellent post, Doug! I loved it, got me all fired up on a really boring Sunday. God Bless America!
Ah, the voice of reason. Well said.
We live in the most remarkable country in the history of mankind without exception. Our uniqueness derives from the freedoms enshrined in that incredible document, The Constitution. This is a contract from the Founders to the future, and is our solemn duty to leave it as we found it.
Agreed, very good observations, and it can all be "CHANGED" in a few short years. I am very much looking forward to November, 2010.
One small quibble. The Founding Fathers believed (as do Justice Thomas and I) that our rights derive from nature and nature's God. In America, the voice of God is the voice of the people. The English until recently (historically speaking) believed that the voice of the monarch was the voice of God, to be passed on to the people. The monarch has been replaced by the government in England, but the concept hasn't changed.
As for our belief in vox populi, vox Dei (lifted from Roman philosophers who never actually saw it put into place), it is again fairly unique. Alcuin writing to Charlemagne tried to explain that concept away by saying the people were merely a mob which the divinely inspired emperor needed to keep in its place. We took a concept and turned it into our exceptional Constitution.
One small quibble in return. I agree that ultimately our rights come from God, but the Constitution does not reserve any rights to God, it reserves them to the people. Where the people got them is a matter between them and their Creator — at least as far as the government is concerned.
That is because the French Revolution was a revolution of the peasants and angry mobs. The same is true of the Russian Revolution. The American Revolution was a revolution of merchants, the educated, and landowners. People with the means and education to understand what they were doing and willing to risk all they had for life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
"And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."
An angry mob did not write that.
Only because God granted the Founding Fathers the right to write the Constitution and Declaration of Independence in the first place. And if the voice of the people is indeed the voice of God, it follows that the people would maintain the reserved rights, since only the chosen get to communicate directly with God and God reserves whatever rights to Himself as He chooses. OK, so I'm just a tired old lawyer. What did you expect, St. Thomas Aquinas? Of course we could give God the vote and everything would simply take care of itself.
Hmmm. The right to write. I like that one. It's where I got the right to ramble on Big Hollywood.
Ruth Bader Ginsberg said we need to look more to international law in making decisions on some of the cases before them. How about just interpret cases as to how they pertain to our US constitution – is that so hard??
Here is her quote: "The U.S. Supreme Court, assigned the task of interpreting the U.S. Constitution, should take into account the decisions and interpretations of foreign courts engaged in measuring ordinary laws and executive actions against charters securing basic rights."
That's an interesting point. I would not agree that other revolutions were without their intellectual element, but you may be on to something with the idea that they were primarily angry-mob based. Indeed, their intellectuals appear to have been more than willing to employ the mob to achieve their ends, our guys never did that.
I'll have to think about that one.
I'm not disagreeing with your logic St. Lawhawk, I'm just pointing out that the Constitution expressly reserves all rights to the people, not God. The Constitution is silent on where those rights come from. The Declaration of Independence, by comparison, is not silent on that point ("endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights"), but the Dec. has no legal effect in the regulation of our government.
Oh, and your right to ramble on Big Hollywood is brought to you by the great taste of Captain Crunch. Make it a Captain Crunch morning! Now with more sugar!
The American revoltion was an English revolution the English never had – witness the influence of Thomas Paine and the English attitudes of many of the founding fathers. The UK 'subjects' v US or French 'citizens' is an old trope and not very smart – the UK monarchy effectively has no real power and always defers to elected ministers.
This is an ugly article though. Yes, America is exceptional, the huddled masses have become a a remarkable nation. Europeans shouldn't complain about America not being like them – that is it's whole point. And thank God for that.
But it cuts both ways. If you want the US to remain exceptional and to keep your president to yourselves, then stop the likes of Coca Cola and Apple seeking worldwide markets. If you give, you will receive. If you take and behave jealously, you won't be liked. This piece completley contradicts against my idea of America's greatness.
Déjà vu, Bev, there are some similarities to today, heh? The people that Washington are pissing off now are the ones that make the country work.
There is another difference. We were breaking away from a tyrant that ruled from across an ocean. Logistically speaking, we could not use angry mobs because they would be too hard to transport. Obviously not true for France and Russia.
Your more recent post seems to have disappeared for awhile, as is the wont of this new design. So I'll just respond here.
Cap'n Crunch and BACON ! I'm off to the kitchen for brunch, meditation and communion with the Framers.
Bev: You are so right. To keep it even simpler, it was the first, and probably only, middle class revolution in history. There were a few very rich, and a few more very poor, but the heart and soul was the middle class. The middle class was the source of strength at the time of the Revolution as it is now. And the sooner the two parties figure that out, the better it will be for all of us. The elitists use the word "bourgeois" as an insult. I wear it as a badge of honor.
Absolutely! Very well and concisely stated.
Yes, our Constitution does make America exceptionally great for it is the venue which affords the individual to live Liberty rather than forced to comply with Statist tyranny.
Actually, the United States Constitution is the most radical document in mankind's history; it places our rights above monarchs, dictators and Hollywood.
One of the things I always found interesting in comparative constitutional exercises is how short ours is compared to everyone else that's tried it. Seriously. Look at the EU's constitution. Last I checked it was over a thousand pages long. The other constitutions all either tend to be collections of legislation (such as Britain's) or have caveats to everything. "you have the freedom of speech…except when….".
Also, look at the language. Ours starts off with "We the people" Things like the EU's proposed constitutions start with a huge list of the leaders of all the countries they want as signatories. Last version of EU constitution I read started with "His Majesty the King of Belgium". The only two examples I can think of that differ like ours are the French and German constitutional equivalents.
Middleclass – that s the word. Viva La Bougeousie!
Yes, evil corporations rule the world. You are so right. Now go away, a leprechaun is eyeing your gold.
Re: StanH's post:
"We live in the most remarkable country in the history of mankind without exception. Our uniqueness derives from the freedoms enshrined in that incredible document, The Constitution. This is a contract from the Founders to the future, and is our solemn duty to leave it as we found it."
These three sentences should be emblazened online, in print and on billboards throughout the country. Thank you, StanH, for this excellent summary of what the people and their elected representatives need to know, to remember and to honor.
The English never had a revolution? You mean besides that Cromwell misunderstanding, and that silly Magna Carta business? Coca Cola? You are kidding, right? These fiends from Atlanta travel the world and force people to survive only on their poison? Thank goodness those Toyota folks aren't trying to sell all over.
In my personal life and in whatever career I find myself in once I leave college, I will refuse to bow down to tyranny.
Buy a gun and learn how to use it. Hopefully you'll never have to use it, but it's the last line of defense, as guaranteed (for at least a little while longer) by the Constitution.
I suspect that the next revolution in this country _will_ be an angry mob, if we're not careful.
Yet obama on his latest trip bowed to a dictator and trashed the country he is president of
He really is a sob
I didn't say the English didn't have a revolution. Benjamon Franklin was a considerable Anglophile, and the revolution was heavily influenced by he enlightenment and ideas that were current in England at the time.
I'm not blaming Coca Cola or Apple either. World class companies. But if the aurthor wants America to become hermetically sealed like North Korea, then so be it. By the way, I hold no great affection for Obama, but when he says:
'In Europe, there is an anti-Americanism that is at once casual but can also be insidious. Instead of recognizing the good that America so often does in the world, there have been times where Europeans choose to blame America for much of what's bad.'
Which he did, today, in Prague, I completly agree with him. But this author appears not to want his president speaking such truths to Europeans.
Who said evil corpotartions rule the world,? Not me, moron.
Which proves that Ginsburg hasn't read anything older than The Communist Manifesto, specifically the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution and The Federalist Papers. Her ACLU background explains it all.
"But if the aurthor wants America to become hermetically sealed like North Korea"
Thanks for the challenge, Michael. I hope I didn't leave the impression in my article that I'm against global free trade. I'm not an isolationist at all.
And if you hold no great affection for Obama, then you seem a reasonable enough man. But given that quote came out today, don't you think it's a bit of an adjustment from the fear coming from most Americans at his selling us out overseas? That's quite a reversal to this quote where he's slamming us to German and French youth.
"In America, there's a failure to appreciate Europe's leading role in the world," he said before offering other European critical views of his country. "There have been times where America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive." – http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,188...
Personally, I'd like a little more pride and backbone from President Obama.
That was one of the things I really liked about Bush. He was not afraid of being disliked. If Europe didn't agree with him, he didn't care and wasn't afraid to say so. He was interested in doing what was best for America. Unlike Obama, Bush understood that he was elected President of the United States.
Anytime I hear someone complain that "the rest of the world hates us" all I can think of is "and that affects you how?"
Don't forget Locke and Hobbes and deTouqueville and even Plato writing as Socrates in "Republic". They championed man asan entity not a possesion and mans ability to determine his own destiny. It just took some time and the right people in Phliadelphia to get together all those years ago. Even this foolish socialist Obama can't undo what those towering giants accomplished. It's said we stand on the shoulders of giants, I firmly believe that Obama feels he is standing on the shoulders of Marx, Engles, Stalin, Alinsky, Madaline Murry O'Haire, Malcom X, Arafat, …..
Thanks for pointing this out. Seeing G. Britian bow on it's collective face to the perversian of Sharia (spelled correctly?) law is disgusting. When did Britian lose it's soul?
Thank you so much for this article. You expressed something I've felt for a long time but couldn't articulate. I don't like the rest of the world. The world is full of stupid countries. The world has always been plagued by extreme poverty, violence, and struggle. Outside of America, much of human society is very much the same as a hundred or five hundred or a thousand years ago: living in squalor, fighting violent, petty disputes, and waiting to die. In fact, if not for America, even more of human society would be like this.
America does just about everything better, even integrating Muslims. Look at France, the liberal dream, where whole sections are a war zone. Worse than the worst American ghetto. In fact, I live in an American ghetto right now, but I have a computer, a home with running water and electricity, and I will soon have a college degree. And I can walk outside my door without the rational fear of being officially raped by members of my own government or conscripted into some ragtag army. Only in America!
America is more good for the globe than any Global Community would be.
Thanks! It’s easy when you mean it.
http://www.atlantateaparty.net/
The Anglosphere is as good a term as any to describe our natural allies (and that comes from someone who doesn't have a drop of English blood). Granted, our form of government derives from a long history of the development of law, so Americans of course didn't invent law or democratic government. But our form of constitutional government is unique in all of the civilized world. Remember, even in England, there is no formal foundational document.
The English "constitution" is actually "higher law," but not a single, discernible, foundational work. And the "Supreme Court" of England is not a separate branch of government, but simply a congregation of the Law Lords in Parliament. The English constitution can be changed without the direct will of the people being consulted.
Likewise we created a constitutional form of government in which the "head of government" (the President) is not simply the most popular member of the legislature (prime minister).
The concept of a foundational document which controls all other law and which cannot be changed without the direct consent of the people is truly unique and truly exceptional and truly American.
I do feel that there are other countries that have shared ideals with ours yet we do not form the types of alliances with them to promote democracy around the world.
I want a new Globalism, a policy that recognizes the importance of the values of free republics and free markets. I want our foreign policy to be Free Market Republicanism. There are values that we conservatives in America share with like-minded people around the world. We let the left preach their vapid socialistic agenda overseas and we conservatives do not fight it. We must fight it globally. We fight it by supporting those that support what we support FREEDOM. We must promote that Freedom ourselves.
It would help if Michael Sweeney would read before he posts. Two hours before his post, I made a point of distinguishing "global economy" from "global government." I was pointing out that you weren't making a narrow parochial point, but a much broader one about American exceptionalism. For his benefit, I probably should have thrown in "anthropomorphic global warming" as another example of "globaloney."
You made your point clearly and concisely, Sweeney willfully misstated it, and then tried to defend his misstatement. The Euroweenies have a strong tendency to do exactly the same thing.
He also appears to think that the "huddled masses" had something to do with the founding and American exceptionalism, rather than being part of a lot of purple poetry written in the late nineteenth century and stuck on a plaque on the Statue of Liberty in 1903.
Obama's speech in Prague was less bad than most of his speeches, but it still sounded like the overly-sensitive kid on the playground pleading "don't hit me, I've done some good things, too." That isn't exactly a ringing endorsement of American exceptionalism. It sounds more like "aw, c'mon guys, we're not so bad."
Your article was a clear bullseye.
i raised my daughter with the informmatin that the creator made all of us but he made some of us with mroe than others. in the nited states god made man and woman with more ability and intellegence. when she was in social stutdeis the teacher tried to make her write a paper abou t india but you better belive my daughter with my urging wrote a paper about america. ive tahgt her that we are suerving a higher purpose in our nation, if there are arch angels in this earth than those arch angels are american citizens. september 11th was an attack on heavne.
The last time I felt this way after someone expressed how they felt about this country was when I heard Gov. Palin speak at the convention and any time after that. She didn't waiver, you knew exactly what you were getting and what she believed in. God and our country. You could pick her family apart, what she wore or how she sounded when she spoke. but you knew exactly what she believed in and stood for. She loved God, her family and this great country. I don't know if she is the one to lead us, but I know the qualities that need to be front and center in our next representative to run for president. It will truly be difficult the next time to find someone that hopefully will have very thick skin because the left will be going for the jugular next time. God help us all…
The last time I felt this way after someone expressed how they felt about this country was when I heard Gov. Palin speak at the convention and any time after that. She didn't waiver, you knew exactly what you were getting and what she believed in. God and our country. You could pick her family apart, what she wore or how she sounded when she spoke. but you knew exactly what she believed in and stood for. She loved God, her family and this great country. I don't know if she is the one to lead us, but I know the qualities that need to be front and center in our next representative to run for president. It will truly be difficult the next time to find someone that hopefully will have very thick skin because the left will be going for the jugular. God help us all…
Great post as usual, Doug.
Our doting MSM miss the main point of this summit: The Euroweenies are estatic with The One for all of his unilateral surrenders of American sovereignity, but balk at reciprocating by stepping up UN forces in Afghanistan, or joining us in more spend-a-thon "stimulus." I liked it better when the Europeans hated our guts.
Love this exchange. Thanks for the illumination it provides.
What is inarguable is that our rights are NOT a mere human invention, but owe their existence to a Creator. Hence they cannot be legitimately tampered with.
When our activist court claims to "discover" a new right in an "emanation " of a "penumbra" of this or that amendment, they are actually displacing legitmate rights. The ripples from such displacement roll on with tsunami force throughout the whole body politic.
In popular parlance, a "right" has become merely a rhetorical crowbar for extracting a political gain.
And the worst part is that when the clairvoyant Supremes discover one of those previously unknown and invisible rights, it frequently results in actual enumerated rights being narrowed. Not only legitimate rights, but clear written and ratified rights. The right to be advantaged via affirmative action (an emanation) was divined by the Supreme Court at the expense of the clear, written and ratified right to equal protection of the laws.
Sorry to be so long replying, but your post showed up on my Intense Debate e-mail, and it has taken me nearly an hour and a half to finally find it on the website. Posts appear, disappear and re-appear with absolutely no rhyme or reason. And I've tried opening threads, collapsing threads, refreshing the site, and manually searching. Nothing helps.
But Coke and Apple are practicing capitalism, which means expanding your influence when you can in the open market. As long as people around the world want their products, the free market dictates that they should sell. If anything, expanding to a global market just proves american exceptionalism. Our system promotes hard work and ingenuity to the point that companies that can grow like that can exists.
And by the way, Global Markets and Global Government are not the same thing. If they were, we could hold out on selling people their diet cokes and macbooks until they adopted a republican-democracy (which is what we have, we vote for representatives, not directly)
Exactly. Every other country out there looks out for number one. Except us. If we do anything abroad it has to be purely altruistic or we get called war-mongers or arrogant. Even when it is mainly humanitarian, like overthrowing a genocidal dictator, we get thrown under the bus "They're only in it for the oil."
America is the first to every disaster scene, the last from every battle field. Not only do we protect our own freedom, we do everything in our power to protect everyone else's. It's like we're the older brother to the rest of the world, we have to be stern, and step in on fights, and yes it seems like arrogance, and yes sometimes we seem mean, but who'll take their brother seriously if he apologizes for doing what he knows he should do?
Actually I think Obama and friends have figured that out, evidence being they don't want a revolution against their plans, and are transforming the class structure to spread-upon, spread-from, and themselves as the spreaders. Speaking of which, now that it's spring I'm smelling the farmers spreading it on their fields…
That perfectly explains why many leftists love Howard Zinn's book, A People's History of the United States: it suggested that the American Revolution was never about ordinary peoples of different cultures, only for the rich and the educated, the lawyers and landowners. I was persuaded to read the book, so I did, as far as I got to nearly 50 pages. My God, I have never read before something so blatantly one-sided and full of poorly researched rants. It should NOT be a required reading for young people!
Rob, that book is pure propaganda in the worst sense of the word. It's deceptive, it attempts to mislead, it is poorly researched..
Glad you liked it.
You are absolutely right. Everytime the Supremes give someone a new right, they take away the existing rights of others. If people want to surrender such rights, they should get the support to amend the Constitution. But then, we all know that the left can't win those arguments with the voters.
P.S. Like Lawhawk, I was only able to open this thread again 11 hours after you posted.
Not 'our', 'their'. It's an important point.
"endowed by THEIR Creator with certain inalienable rights"
They didn't say 'our', or 'the'….they said 'their' Creator. While perhaps not so important to those who are adamant about the desire of the founders that this be a Christian nation, it is incredibly important to those among you who AREN'T Christian and have no desire to be. 'Their' allows for gods other than Jehovah/Yahweh/Allah. It even allows one to interpret 'Creator' as 'parent'.
Freedom of religion–even in the Declaration.
Excellent, excellent article, and the comments are very insightful, as well (OF COURSE!). I am so tired of being told I have no right to be proud of America, by my own countrymen, no less. Patriotism is not Imperialism. Well said, all!
I agreed. Was at a city university the other day, browsing a college bookstore and out of curiosity, checking out what young college students are reading required books for classes. On one shelf has a small stack of Howard Zinn's book, with the store's pricing and info label on the shelf. One line shown, "Required for…(name of professor in an American history 101 class)". Yes, that's the beginner class on American history.
Typo on my part. Should have said "their." That said, I'm not sure the distinction ultimately matters as either "their" or "our" both refernce the same thing — "we the people." And because both "their" and "our" would allow for a variety of different religious beliefs, excluding pure atheism — which would be contradictory to the idea of a creator expressed in the sentence.
I don't see how you could define "Creator" as "parent", because clearly our rights do not derive from our individual parents.
We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
If we break it down to understand what our preamble is supposed to mean without lawyers involved (who often distort our founding document to benefit their agendas) to me, it would be something like this:
We the people of the United states – All U.S. legal citizens (whether they deserve to be or not)
In order to form a more perfect union – have to take the following steps to create our own paradise
establish justice – Punish people who break our laws, politicians and movie stars included.
insure domestic tranquility – help keep your neighborhoods safe and calm. Does not say that it will do it on it's own, it says "insure" which is normally not the first action. In other words, you have to lose it before insurance can reclaim it for you. Therfore, the need for guns for your own protection.
provide for the common defense – Make sure that we fund a Police force, Firefighters, and a strong Military and give them to tools to defend the commoners or the general public
promote the general welfare – Create an environment where people can achieve good fortune, happiness and well being. This does not mean that we are to "insure" the general welfare which is what Congress is trying to do by bailing out Freddie and Fannie. This is where I know the Constitution has been destroyed because most of the financial sector is in shambles due to government policies and legislation & regulation. Bad Congress.
and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and or posterity – Fight for liberty to keep it safe in order to pass it on to our children so that they can be blessed by liberty as well. We are lacking in this department and we should all take more active rolls by contacting our congressman and fight to make sure our children get at least what we've received from this country
do ordain and establish – officially invest in and create
this Constitution for the United States of America – The finest document in the world which is written in stone and is NOT a living and breathing document. The document that numbered the days of slavery, marked the day that we became free and gave us the rules in order to fight our congress today. The further we go away from this document, the faster things begin to change for the worse.
The best thing we can do is to vote in your local elections for people who believe as we do. Vote for honest Politicians that are anchored to the Constitution and have passion for America. The rest will take care of itself.
Touché’ Hawk, and a right to the jaw of Mr. Sweeney.
We simply have to go for their jugular, to hell with turning the other cheek!
We simply have to go for their jugular, to hell with turning the other cheek! Sarah is great.
"Intelligence has only made us immoral with more knowledge."
These words too long. Me no know these. Me too moral for these. You bad man. B-A-F bad.
The New World Order of Bush Sr, was not about a one world government. It was about responsability. The stuff about combining mexico, canada and the US is hogwash. There were never any such plans or goals.
Ignorance must be bliss, because you keep on writing these articles. I was especially touched by the "prius drivers that drive through america". Yeah prius drivers that want to use less oil so that we dont have to fight wars. The prius drivers that mostly are american citizens. The prius drivers that want to help the environment. Those prius drivers! Thanks for (in the so called name of america) attacking american citizens. Real classy.
As for your points on America's exceptionalism. America is only exceptional when Americans act exceptionaly. For me acting exceptional includes listening to others, leading by example, and reaching out to mend fences. Like it or not we broke a lot of fenses with our recent unilateral invasion of iraq. It didnt help when the pretense for going into iraq turned out to be wrong. And the results of that war were the worst. No one cares if America is accepted or not. American can just go ahead and blissfully ignore reality all it wants to. But like it or not on Nov 4 the american people from both red states and blue ones choose Barack Obama to be the person that began mending those fenses.
"Our country is not a peer of the G20. Our country is better than every other country in the world. Not because we’re white or black, or born in this or that hemisphere, or because of our GDP, but because of our values, our charter, our adherence to the Constitution."
Typical american arrogance.
Sweden is a better country than the US overall, you just don't hear them screaming about it all the time.
"Look at France, the liberal dream, where whole sections are a war zone. "
What? Where are you getting this information from. When was the last time you're in France? I met my French uncle the other day, and there was no mention of this. My Dad was over in France for a week not so long ago, and he did not experience this. Why are you idiots singling off France anyway? Like I mentioned, Sweden is a lot closer to the "Liberal Dream". You need to stop paying attention to FOX news and Hannity, and try looking at official, (mostly)unbiased statistics from sites like Nationmaster.
Typical liberal one-worlder arrogance. I have no obligation or loyalty to the world but my own country. Why should we oblige ourselves to bunch of peoples in other countries who does NOT share or respect our American values?
Hold on now. See, there's this thing conservatives do when they take arguments that apply to them and reverse them with no care for context.
How am I being arrogant? Saying MY COUNTRY IS BETTER THAN EVERY COUNTRY IN THE WORLD HURR with no real evidence is [insert country here] arrogance. It's being a Jingoistic prick.
I'm not "arrogant" for pointing that out, and your xenophobic world view is furthered by calling me a "typical liberal", which I assure you I'm not. Please do not try to pigeonhole me in to your horrible poltiical spectrum, though I doubt you can tell the difference at the end of the day.
Why should people share your values exactly? And why should they respect them if they disagree with them? And finally why is this an excuse to be a huge dick to everyone else?
People would "respect" your American values if your worldview was extended like this. They have every reason not to respect them.
"I have no obligation or loyalty to the world but my own country. ", this just sounds scary and it's further scary that you're incapable of seeing it. At the end of the day, I don't allign myself with any one country. I don't care about "countries". They don't exist, really. But people do exist. I care about how PEOPLE are affected regardless, even if it's someone I've never met, I'd rather not he die in a forest fire or some random bullshit. Why the hell do "countries" matter like that anyway? Who gives a shit if someone is wrong a country that holds strong views against america? You are not america, and they are not their country. At the end of the day, they're a human being, and that's what I put above all else.
Obviously, you do not, but still bitch and moan when liberals accuse you of being a bit of a sociopath.
Hold on now. See, there's this thing conservatives do when they take arguments that apply to them and reverse them with no care for context.
How am I being arrogant? What I quoted was definitely arrogant. It was saying MY COUNTRY IS GREAT AND ALL OTHER ONES ARE SHIT HURR with no evidence to back it. This is arrogance. What I did was call him out on it. This is not arrogance.
Personally, I do not care about "my own country" in the regard you do. Whether someone shares your "values" or not should have no bearing on what those values are to begin with, at least in the manner you're presenting.
Those three sentences are honestly the source of most of the US's problem with the outside world. You have no obligation or loyalty to the world but your own country. Okay. So basically fuck the rest of the world? See, I have a problem with this, since people like you tend to throw a shit fit whenever a Liberal implies you're a bit of a sociopath. Because well, you kind of are. Putting imaginary concepts like countries before human wellbeing and global wellbeing is… well, kind of insane.
You are not America. If someone comes from a country that does not respect american values, they are not that country either. Your inability to see past "country" to human beings is a serious problem. I care about other human beings, not citizens of my country.
Other countries will start to respect your values when you show values worth respecting. Like it or not you share this rock with a lot of other people, many of whom make a slightly better effort to get along. It's funny how you care so much about the ones that DON'T get along, but not the ones that do.
Statistics have proven that flat out wrong time and time again. We're safer on average in the last 50 years than we have been in any point in history to my knowledge. Probably not an awful lot happier, no, but the fact that we still spend most of our lives working jobs we hate and arguing with people who refuse to be reasonable probably has a lot more to do with this than science and secular values.
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