Posted on 11/07/2004 12:02:58 PM PST by lsilver5
Simon Schama divides us into two nations. One America is a perimeter, lying on the oceans or the fuzzy boundary with the Canadian lakes, and is porous and outward-looking. The other America is continental and landlocked, its roots of obstinate self-belief buried deep beneath the bluegrass and high corn. It is time we called these two Americas something other than Republican and Democrat. How about "Godly America" and "Worldly America?" Godly America is "mythic, messianic, conversionary, given to acts of public witness. Worldly America is a lot more like Europe. It is time to stop pretending that Europeans and Americans share a common view of the world. While 11 U.S. states voted to reject any notion of gay marriage, almost every state in Europe is moving to embrace the idea. While U.S. conservatives dream of the day when the Supreme Court overturns Roe vs. Wade, publicly funded abortions are taken for granted in most of Europe. In America, capital punishment has flourished. In Europe, the abolition of the death penalty is a prerequisite for membership in the European Union. When the Founding Fathers drafted the Constitution, they took pains to erect a high wall between church and state. The new American majority wants to lower the wall. Meanwhile, the EU fought to keepfree of any references to God or religion. What Europeans seem to dislike about Bush is not that he is faithful to his wife but the "moral certainty" of his pronouncements. For Europeans as well as Americans, this election was a milestone. "Europeans have to open their eyes to the fact that the U.S. today is rather a different place than what it used to be," Now deal with it. America has spoken, the rest of the world should listen.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
Uh, can some red voters help me? Is it allowed to combine parts of the above requirements?
If so, what would be a mythic act of public witness? And don't anyone tell me to start singing a Wagnerian opera piece, that's for Germans!
"When the Founding Fathers drafted the Constitution, they took pains to erect a high wall between church and state."
Hardly. The intent was erect a high wall to keep the state out of the church. The Founders would spin in their graves if they saw how thats been turned on its head.
And, at the time, it made considerable sense. The Catholicism of the 1800s was generally quite hostile to democracy, freedom of religion and other American values. Catholic Americans have been fully accepted by their Protestant countryment largely because American Catholicism changed and accepted these values. Assuming other religions do the same, I have no problem with them becoming equally integrated into our society.
Uh, no, America is exactly as it's always been. The only way to hang on to our way of government is to remain a religous people.
"It is religion and morality alone," Adams advised, "which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. Religion and virtue are the only foundations ... of republicanism and of all free governments."
On another occasion, Adams observed, "We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion . ... Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
Never once in our nation's history did we call on Europe to come over here and die for us. Twice last century we gave them the lives of how many hundreds of thousands of our youth? How much treasure? And that's not counting the last 50 years keeping the Soviets out of their lives!
Believe me, if this or any other president asks America to EVER do the same again for these European ingrates, they can take a flying leap. They are nothing but a bunch of ungrateful ride-along BASTARDS with no gas money or anything else to contribute.
After it's comportment during the dark ages, I can understand why. While I'm not a big fan of Catholicism by any means, I don't believe Catholicism stands on a par with the other religions I mentioned.
Never once in our nation's history did we call on Europe to come over here and die for us.
Well, there were the Battles of Yorktown and the Chesapeake. :)
And the Confederacy tried its hardest to get Europe to intervene, unsuccessfully.
So that's twice we (well, some of us) asked Europeans to come over here and die for us, once that they did.
They must continue their search for the answer to their question. As for me, I have concluded my 52 year quest for and answer...Yes all Europeans are assholes.
To be perfectly fair, we rescued Europe from the Kaiser, the Nazis and the Commies because any state controlling those immense resources could have quickly built up an unbeatable military machine that would have been a direct threat to us. It was a balance of power thing, not necessarily something we did just out of the goodness of our hearts.
Less of an issue today, because the US is comparatively much stronger relative to even a united Europe than it was during the first half of the 20th.
Bush is so stupid, he keeps whipping their ass. We're just as stupid, I guess, but the leftists are the ones with the sore butts from the beating. How smart is that?
Excellent. Oh, that's good. That's real good.
flubber!
The American Revoloution heralded the birth of "a new man". Many Europeans and a number of clueless Americans (blue states) are only now realizing what this means.
"What is all this landlocked crap I keep reading?!?
Starting from Texas all the way up to Virginia, there are lots of waterfront etc.
These guys really need a map."
Exacto. So who are the stupid ones????
Good point, najida. It can also be argued that the blue states are "waterlocked" and are therefore "internationalist," believing they are more a part of socialist and communist foreign countries than they are a part of America. The heartland is just as "in touch" with the world as the "waterlocked" regions. It has full access to all the media. It has telephones. It has roads, rail and airports to facilitate travel just as the red zones do. It has libraries and schools that produce better results than in the big coastal cities.
So the "landlocked" disparagement really doesn't have much meaning. It's just another liberal put-down of red-staters. The most significant difference between the "landlocked" and the "waterlocked" areas is to be found in the red states' acceptance of those things that have made America great and the blue states' rejection of them.
Good point, najida. It can also be argued that the blue states are "waterlocked" and are therefore "internationalist," believing they are more a part of socialist and communist foreign countries than they are a part of America. The heartland is just as "in touch" with the world as the "waterlocked" regions. It has full access to all the media. It has telephones. It has roads, rail and airports to facilitate travel just as the red zones do. It has libraries and schools that produce better results than in the big coastal cities.
So the "landlocked" disparagement really doesn't have much meaning. It's just another liberal put-down of red-staters. The most significant difference between the "landlocked" and the "waterlocked" areas is to be found in the red states' acceptance of those things that have made America great and the blue states' rejection of them.
The Islamic Republic of Europe is in no position to talk about stupidity.
Another thing my semi-farmer brother brought up.
All the red states grow food or livestock or both. My take is it makes us a bit more grounded in reality.
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