America...the Thread

[raybia]

I see America as a country that challenges the individual and throws the individual into a situation where he is offered and enticed almost with the promise of freedom, the promise of enrichment. And at the same time it throws him into a situation where he has to be so competitive, that he also feels he’s in the jungle. So it’s a form of democracy that throws us into the conditions of jungle life, but at the same time holds out for us the hope of civilization, the hope of human dignity, and the hope of real freedom.

I think this is a great situation. I think that is why this country has made so much progress. If Americans lose sight on that idea of this democracy and that idea of freedom, I think we’ll become less competitive in the world. And that is what’s happening. We’re becoming less competitive in the international world, because fewer American people, especially the leaders, are conceiving America in the way that it was conceived by the Founding Fathers and by the old pioneers of this country.

Imam W. Deen Mohammed
1988



Prophetic words. The ideas mentioned in this article are coming to pass. What direction are we headed as a society especially as the world becomes a small and small place? Have we truly lost sight on what democracy is as envisioned by the founding father?

Do people of other countries as they immigrate to America have a better understand of America than we do?

Are we more concerned about having fun and a life of entertainment and fulfillment of pleasure than we are about the principles that are presented in the Bill of Rights and the Constitution, of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?

Are we in a downward spiral that between our inept American leadership and the masses indifference will lead to the destruction of the American way of life as we know it?

Is the answer just to love it or leave it…or is there a third option? Fix it. Or has too much apathy been built up where we just don’t give a damn anymore. If so where will this attitude lead our country?

Your thoughts.

[Mee]

This isn't about the Simon & Garfunkle song?

[StorminNorman]

Alexander Hamilton was our finest founding father as well as our least hypocritical.

Yay America

[CConn]

Originally Posted by StorminNorman

Alexander Hamilton was our finest founding father as well as our least hypocritical.

Yay America

I've always hated that ****er.

[StorminNorman]

Originally Posted by CConn

I've always hated that ****er.

Jeffersonian Bastard!

[cryptic name]

Originally Posted by CConn

I've always hated that ****er.

look where that got aaron burr

[StorminNorman]

Originally Posted by cryptic name

look where that got aaron burr

Aaron Burr won

And then tried to rebel against the American Government

[Mee]

Originally Posted by StorminNorman

Alexander Hamilton was our finest founding father as well as our least hypocritical.

Yay America

George muthasmurfin Washington all the way son!

[bullets]

Originally Posted by Mee

George muthasmurfin Washington all the way son!

he lied about the apple tree. screw him

[Argyle of Sock]

Originally Posted by Mee

George muthasmurfin Washington all the way son!

I actually like Hamilton, Jefferson, AND Burr, but you're right: Washington was the least bastardly of the founding fathers.

[kedrell]

Originally Posted by Mee

George muthasmurfin Washington all the way son!

I agree. His greatest achievement in my opinion: refusing to be a king even though he could have been one. That's what separates him from the likes of Julius Caesar and people like him.So few people when offered that kind of power would be able to turn it down.

[bullets]

id rather be in america than anywhere else. also i would like to see more people stand up for what they believe in but the protests about the war seem to have been ineffective

[JustABill]

I knew a dude named Aaron Burr in high school. No ****.

[bullets]

jefferson impregnated a slave.

[XtromaniaK]

Originally Posted by bullets

jefferson impregnated a slave.

And that's why he's the man.

[Argyle of Sock]

Originally Posted by bullets

jefferson impregnated a slave.

And then he hid it, and talked about how such a child would be a half-breed degredation of humanity.

[Abaddon]

Originally Posted by bullets

jefferson impregnated a slave.

several times.

[Immortalfire]

America, it's the land of the free, and the home of the free. ~ Space Ghost

[Addendum]

VIDEO-CLick to Watch!:

[Sandman138]

Off goes the head of the king, and tyranny gives way to freedom. The change seems abysmal. Then, bit by bit, the face of freedom hardens, and by and by it is the old face of tyranny. Then another cycle, and another. But under the play of all these opposites there is something fundamental and permanent — the basic delusion that men may be governed and yet be free.

-- H. L. Mencken, Preface to the first edition of The American Credo : A Contribution Toward the Interpretation of the National Mind (1920)

When a candidate for public office faces the voters he does not face men of sense; he faces a mob of men whose chief distinguishing mark is the fact that they are quite incapable of weighing ideas, or even of comprehending any save the most elemental — men whose whole thinking is done in terms of emotion, and whose dominant emotion is dread of what they cannot understand. So confronted, the candidate must either bark with the pack or be lost... All the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre — the man who can most adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum.' The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.

-- H. L. Mencken, Baltimore Sun (26 July 1920)

The fact is that the average man's love of liberty is nine-tenths imaginary, exactly like his love of sense, justice and truth. He is not actually happy when free; he is uncomfortable, a bit alarmed, and intolerably lonely. Liberty is not a thing for the great masses of men. It is the exclusive possession of a small and disreputable minority, like knowledge, courage and honor. It takes a special sort of man to understand and enjoy liberty — and he is usually an outlaw in democratic societies.

-- H. L. Mencken, Baltimore Evening Sun (12 February 1923)

[Enriquespy]

You mean America or USA?

[XtromaniaK]

He was trying to cover his tracks. A wise move considering the times weren't so forgiving back then. A great man nonetheless. Made even greater by his strong pimp hand.

[bullets]

jefferson also coined the term "pimp juice".

[Argyle of Sock]

Y'know, it's interesting. Washington was the only founding father who actually freed his slaves, but the reason Jefferson didn't is because he literally couldn't afford to.

Jefferson was a shopaholic, you see (if ebay had been around in the day, he'd have been really screwed). He actually ended up having to sell his entire library of books to try and cover some of his debt. This is how the first national library was established, from Jefferson's collection.

So, to the point, Jefferson was so incredibly in debt that he literally couldn't free his slaves.

[StorminNorman]

Originally Posted by Argyle of Sock

Y'know, it's interesting. Washington was the only founding father who actually freed his slaves, but the reason Jefferson didn't is because he literally couldn't afford to.

Jefferson was a shopaholic, you see (if ebay had been around in the day, he'd have been really screwed). He actually ended up having to sell his entire library of books to try and cover some of his debt. This is how the first national library was established, from Jefferson's collection.

So, to the point, Jefferson was so incredibly in debt that he literally couldn't free his slaves.

I believe Hamilton never owned slaves because he had a problem with the practice.