I read your post #290 and it took me a bit of time to pass judgment on your questions. The questions that they raised in my mind were: Question #1 Are they inane? or Question #2 Are they irrelavant? In favor of inane is the fact that nearly everyone with IQ above 60 has a fairly good grasp on what an American is. The one group that this may not be true of are the neo-imperialists of the left and right who can't seem to muster more concern for their fellow countymen than they have for nationals of other countries. Of course, when it's time to fight wars for their interests they become superpatriots and have no difficulty in demanding that their fellow citizens defend them.
In favor of irrelavant, is your absurd attempt to denigrate the idea of increasing the parental tax exemption by calling it "social engineering". By your criterion, what action of government is not social engineering? Are you an anarchist?
So after long consideration I could not decide which Question I posed to myself better described your post. It was both inane and irrelavant.