After reading Machiavelli, I must agree with you, as you agree with him.
The founders of our country believed in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
They fought an oppressive regime that was clamping down on them, telling them what they could or could not do, seizing their guns, taxing their meat and their bread.
The ideals we started with were what made this country great. At the time of it founding, we were basically one people, primarily British, primarily Protestant. We WERE NOT diverse and divided.
These days, politicians seem to think that what would make America strong again is giving free cell phones to people.
How low we have sunk...