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Subject: 
Re: One nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.debate
Date: 
Wed, 3 Jul 2002 04:50:17 GMT
Viewed: 
3577 times
  
In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Joseph Williams writes:

I'm in full agreement with taking into consideration previous civilizations
as greater in influence than what is currently the USA of today.

Well, let's compare apples to apples here.  I said greatest *nation*-- you can
hardly compare a nation to a civilization.

Take either
China or Egypt,

...please. (apologizes to Henny;-)

which are still very vital world communities today.

That's putting it kindly.  China is one of the most repressive countries on
earth.  Just wait until the 1,000,000+ Chinese young men with no chance of
marriage start getting restless...

I think your attitude would slam more doors than anything.

My attitude is that we are great because we love liberty and freedom-- what is
so wrong with that?

But for what it's
worth the USA flag isn't looked terribly favourably in a lot of countries.

It's worth nothing.  List any country, and I'll bet that we have either given
millions of $$$ to them in aide, sent our men to die for *their* freedom, or
assisted them in some profound fashion.

Not that any *western* country is but the US's overseas policies and refusal
to commit to various treaties makes it more of a target in some places.

Ha, US-bashing is all the rage in European countries such as France--
intellectually bankrupt socialists bore me.

The US's success is based on immigrants. It is not so much a nation as the
metaphor for the global village.

Absolutely, undeniably, incontrovertibly NO, NO, NO! And NO! Again, I say NO!

First, the immigrants wouldn't have come here if there wasn't *opportunity*.
But even if they came anyway, if we had set up a dictatorship, we could have
used those immigrants as slaves or something.

We are not the first nation to be flooded with immigrants.  We are the first to
allow immigrants to pursue life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness
*freely*.  *THAT* is what our success is based on.


More enlightened citizens of your country
realize their stewardship role. What have you done to contribute to your
country's greatness besides being born in it?

Me, personally?  I am an honest, upstanding citizen, I work hard to make a good
life for me and my family, I pay taxes, and I am willing and able to defend her
if and when I'm called to do so.  What *more* would you expect or want from a
citizen?

Measuring your flag pole is
what seperates you from the rest of the world and dosn't help anyone.

My point wasn't to toot our collective horn-- is was to point out that we are
great *because* of our Constitution.

The US
has contributed to every major disaster and 3rd world country because they
have inherited the responsibility of stewardship.

From whom?

And it's a bit of blind
luck that WWII went the allies way and were it not for the UK the Natzi's
would have put a different spin on things.

What in the world are you talking about here?  Luck had nothing to do with it--
sacrifice in the name of feedom won WWII.  To imply otherwise is frankly
insulting to the thousands who died to preserve yours and my freedom.

I think that adds to Pedro's
arguement the unrelenting effort with manpower and funds that the UK
commited to preserving the 'american way of life' and all of democracy. If
America had devoted as much energy and suffered as many losses as the UK did
then it would be a different discussion we would be having. And like Pedro,
sorry for jumping in on this in the middle ;-)

Did you read your history book upside-down?  Europe owes a debt of gratitude to
the US!  We *liberated* France from German occupation, for crying out loud--
and for that we get disdain in return.

-John



Message has 3 Replies:
  Re: One nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
 
(...) Where I was coming from wasn't giving anyone a moral scorecard. Just how they had impacted nations that followed. By noting that they were still vital wasn't trying to give any credence to whatever political atmosphere is currently going on, (...) (22 years ago, 3-Jul-02, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
  Re: One nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
 
(...) A bunch of immigrants were forced to come here. (...) Um...uh...well...we did! (...) to (...) Actually, I largely agree with this. The core of whatever greatness we have claim to (aside from the dumb luck, which is indisputable) is our (...) (22 years ago, 3-Jul-02, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
  Re: One nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
 
(...) This is one for the first things that I actually agreed with ;) (...) There is nothing with saying the USofA is great. My original issue was with saying it is the "Greatest" nation. The US is great, for numerous reasons which I may expound on, (...) (22 years ago, 3-Jul-02, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

Message is in Reply To:
  Re: One nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
 
(...) I'm in full agreement with taking into consideration previous civilizations as greater in influence than what is currently the USA of today. Take either China or Egypt, which are still very vital world communities today. Most everything we (...) (22 years ago, 3-Jul-02, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

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