America ... The Land Of Losers!

On June 28 I wrote an article which brought some interesting comments; among them, this:

 Anonymous said...California government marches to the beat of a different drum. Folks that don't like it can always move elsewhere.

Guess what?  This is the "Elsewhere" where people moved. 

Essentially, except for the "indigenous people" which the earliest European colonists found here (and almost immediately wiped out by a combination of Guns, God and Gonorrhea .. not to mention measles) this was a land unpopulated by thriving, advanced nations.   It was not necessary for the new "colonists" to  take the land away from those few humans found here; they just had to breathe on them; then sit back and let nature take its course.

You can't get more American than THAT!

(Later, of course, there were some obscure hold-outs .. see Wounded Knee ... our sterling soldiers soon negotiated an honorable peace.)

Americas Statue of Liberty is the host to a gift of the French People.  It is the only monument to freedom which is dedicated to freedom: don't let nobody tell you no different!

"The Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World" was a gift of friendship from the people of France to the United States and is recognized as a universal symbol of freedom and democracy. The Statue of Liberty was dedicated on October 28, 1886.  It was designated as a National Monument in 1924.  Employees of the National Park Service have been caring for the colossal copper statue since 1933.

America is the progenitor of the twin documents which delineate the concept of freedom:  The Declaration of Independence, and The Constitution of the United States of America.

The Declaration of Independence defines the reasons why Americans decided to separate themselves from their British founders, and the basic precepts of FREEDOM which should rightly be available to ALL men to define.

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, 

The Constitution delineates the basic principles under which Americans have decided to live:

The United States Constitution is the supreme law of the United States of America.^[1] 

(With no reference to the "foreign nation" which, by the singular virtue of having colonized it, seemed comfortable with the assumption of power to GOVERN that new land.  Oh .. that would be England!)

  Unfortunately, having tasted freedom, free men are loath to give it up!

These documents are the foundation of America; both in the original establishment of the nation, and as the enduring requirement of free men to continue to manage their own affairs, regardless of the wishes of a "foreign" nation which would impose its own laws upon them as if it were a mere "colony".

(Britain established "Colonies"; America established "Partners".  Well, nobody is perfect.)

(Except for "Me and Thee"; and sometimes I worry a bit about "Thee".)

I hope to examine the concept of "Independence" more thoroughly on Independence Day later this week.

But I suspect I might be overwhelmed by pomposity by then.  So don't hold your breath.  

This is as much scholarship and research as I can manage in a single week, and I may have already over-used it,  You know the drill: if you're interested, do your own research.  You know as much about it as I do.

I'm just glad I don't live in Europe.  Or .. well ... anywhere else.

No man can say more for the concept of "independence", without voting Democrat.

/snark