I Am An American

originally posted by: gort51


George Washington probably still spoke with an English accent, as did everyone else at the "Founding" (or Irish or Scottish or German).

Actually, the accent Washington and other Virginians had was more like the current US midwestern accent. British English developed all those glottal stops and complex vowels in the 1800s.

glo'al stopz and complex vauls

a reply to: SonOfTheLawOfOne

Bill Cooper defending communists is about as good as it gets on what it means to be an American:

a reply to: SonOfTheLawOfOne

I am so sorry but this is too long to read before going to bed.
I promise to read the whole thing in the morning with my mug
of coffee! night,night,Mama.

a reply to: gort51

Seems to me you are missing the point and violently agreeing with most of what I'm saying.

All nations have national pride, and as such, they have institutions and government designed to support it. It's why you don't see mass migrations of Americans to China. Or mass migrations of Chinese to India. In those countries, culture and nationalism rule, as do many other countries. It is why many of them have strict rules for citizenship, don't tolerate other religions or cultural beliefs and don't welcome Americans with welcome arms and open borders.

America is more tolerant with our laws and culture, and will assimilate many cultures much more easily than other countries, which is one of the reasons people want to migrate here. I never once in my post said anything about other nations not making up parts the populace, in fact, I specifically said we are designed to accept people from all nations.

Saying we came here and kicked out the natives is a feeble argument that you could repeat since the beginning of man's existence, with England and France and Rome invading most of the known world long before anyone thought of coming to this country to start again. Trying to be slick with your play on "American" constituting all of Mexico and Canada shows a little ignorance for how this country and others were founded. It was the French and British that owned Canada, because they were unable to break the hold Europe had, unlike America, and Europe wanted to have land to push back on America with. It's also why they are called Canadians (because their country is called Canada and not North America - duh), and people from Mexico are called Mexicans. We don't call them Central Americans and North Americans, because they have their own recognized sovereign nation, and their nation has a name, just like ours. It wasn't until the League of Nations was formed in the early 1900's that nations were even recognized as independent or sovereign because there was no recognition of "independence" and no internationally governing body to agree on what nationhood was defined as. Today, we call it the United Nations, in case you had not heard of it.

And who f*cking cares what accent the Founders had? What does that have to do with anything in the post or the subject at hand? My family spoke Polish, English, German, Italian, French... they are still Americans because they respected the laws and culture of this country and didn't try to change it to fit Poland's or Germany's or Italy's. The people that live here are entitled to carry along their cultures and beliefs personally, but at the end of the day, they have to respect and honor ours to become a citizen, and you don't seem to support or understand that, and that's ok, most of the people not born and raised here don't either (it wouldn't surprise me if you're one of them).

Nationalism is part of what protects every country, yet for some reason, it's frowned on to seek to uphold it in America. People in this country (perhaps including yourself) are all for nationalism when Democracy and freedom support changing the laws you don't care about, except when the same Democracy and freedom also takes away the ones you do.

It sounds like you have a grudge against America, cousin... not really feelin the luv if ya feel me. But thanks for being proud of me, I can sleep with comfort knowing that.



~Namaste

originally posted by: alldaylong
a reply to: SonOfTheLawOfOne

Do Americans have some sort of insecurity issue?

They keep going on about their foundation. You don't here that from any ATS members from other countries and how their country began.

Weird.

The Constitution and Bill of Rights are far more than just being about America's foundation.
Your comment is like saying people in Britain are weird for discussing the laws of our land.
In other words, your own comment is not just weird, but rather ignorant.

originally posted by: oloufo

originally posted by: alldaylong
a reply to: SonOfTheLawOfOne

Do Americans have some sort of insecurity issue?

They keep going on about their foundation. You don't here that from any ATS members from other countries and how their country began.

Weird.

I think that's just an excuse. It's all about being afraid of change. That's why the following groups/persons are attacked:
Greta
Transgender
Women
Muslims
Climate activists
Scientists
Artists
Among other things, it is about the predominance of the white race (including the overweight ones). It is about fear, anger and frustration. Because the world is changing rapidly and nothing can be done about it. Paranoia, the fear of the evil superiority that comes and takes away your weapons. Next McDonalds is abolished. And then there's civil war. With axes against combat robots. Who will win?

Yours maybe the dumbest comment I have seen on this site.
The Constitution of the USA actually enables and protects the areas you mention - as it does all citizens and their rights.
Protecting the framework of the Constituion has nothing to do with the white race, fear anger or frustration. Unless you believe protecting all people's rights and limiting givernment power is somehow a racist idea?
Seriously, please get an education.

originally posted by: gort51
The country of the USA, only exists because of migration of European Peoples, the settlers, the convicts, the Military, the destitute, the press ganged, the pirates, the crooks........and the religious nutters etc etc.

You're talking about the population of the USA not the form of government that the founding fathers chose to put in place. The form of government that they put in place is not found anywhere else in the world!

Unfortunately, we are at risk of losing that form of government through the watering down of attention to the U.S. Constitution.

originally posted by: UKTruth

originally posted by: alldaylong
a reply to: SonOfTheLawOfOne

Do Americans have some sort of insecurity issue?

They keep going on about their foundation. You don't here that from any ATS members from other countries and how their country began.

Weird.

The Constitution and Bill of Rights are far more than just being about America's foundation.
Your comment is like saying people in Britain are weird for discussing the laws of our land.
In other words, your own comment is not just weird, but rather ignorant.

Does Canada have a Constitution? Does Canada have a Bill Of Rights ? The answer to both is yes.

Do you hear Canadians here on ATS continually harping on about those? The answer is no.

Come back when you have something constructive to say.

originally posted by: alldaylong

originally posted by: UKTruth

originally posted by: alldaylong
a reply to: SonOfTheLawOfOne

Do Americans have some sort of insecurity issue?

They keep going on about their foundation. You don't here that from any ATS members from other countries and how their country began.

Weird.

The Constitution and Bill of Rights are far more than just being about America's foundation.
Your comment is like saying people in Britain are weird for discussing the laws of our land.
In other words, your own comment is not just weird, but rather ignorant.

Does Canada have a Constitution? Does Canada have a Bill Of Rights ? The answer to both is yes.

Do you hear Canadians here on ATS continually harping on about those? The answer is no.

Come back when you have something constructive to say.

Ironic - given your weird post.
Compare the number of Canadians to Americans on this site and you might have your answer.
Whenever an issue comes up in a country several discussions arise about that countries laws.
We had the same in the UK over prorogation. We don't even have a written constitution and yet it was a topic of intense discussion amongst Brits and even our Supreme Court.

None of that changes the fact that you don't even know what the US Constitution is. You're ignorant of it and yet you choose to blather on about it whilst claiming it's weird for people to talk about it.

Like I said, a person ignorant of what the US Constitution actually is, from a different country, contributing to the discussion by saying it's weird to talk about is rather strange indeed. Perhaps first do some learning and then come back to discuss the issue. I would think it obvious that it would be a basic courtesy to actually understand something from another country before wading in with nonsense. But then, you have a habit of doing that.

The sites motto is Deny Ignorance. You seem to think it's Display Ignorance.

a reply to: UKTruth

I have just stopped laughing at your reply.

Americans ( or most of them anyway ) on ATS are always telling us what a Utopian Country the U.S. is and how the rest of the world strives to be like it. The rest of the world they say, even envies The U.S.

Meanwhile we have Americans, one after the other coming on ATS with all this weird stuff about their countries foundation and what the problems are with it.

Anyway, as you love to lick American arses, i wouldn't expect you to say anything different to what you have.

I have read many accounts of history, and I have read the personal memoirs of the founding fathers.
They thought the common people to be hopeless, and requiring a ruling class to facilitate decision making. The FF's were wealthy Eurooean nobility, wanting to be larger fish in a smaller pond. So they came here, and set up a European colony, and America has always been an outpost of Europe. If anyone gives a flip to do some real research, the american corporation is owned by the crown, and so is the legal system , BAR association, and the United Nations issues your social security number.
America is fast becoming a slum, and we have no constitution to protect any rights. A true US Citizen owns nothing, is promised nothing, and will probably die never knowing the truth about a damn thing. If anyone wants to read, beware, history is written by the Victor's, and very little truth is able to be found in print.
reply to: SonOfTheLawOfOne

I am AN AMERICAN...
a reply to: SonOfTheLawOfOne
Growing up in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA I had the experience to learn what it is to be an American and what it meant for others.

To me being American meant I was incarnated in a free country, or a country that provided a safe enough environment to grow within for my family and I that would not pressure me into religious influence or political tyrany.

I was taught the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA was a democracy where people voted for local and national leaders who were responsible inturn for making the laws of the land.
These leaders are supposed to be trustworthy otherwise the laws they make are not.
I was taught there was a Constitution built by the Free men of the American colonies.
As I got older I learned about Freemasons and that many of the free men wrote and signed the Constitution that is basically the foundation of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

I was taught there were also slaves brought over from the Continent of AFRICA. And some of these free men owned them.

The slaves did not have a say in the Constitution...directly. And so many of the laws of the land didn't do to well with or for the slaves or their descendants of the new world they were brought.

This left many slaves in peril until overtime some AMERICANS who were interacting directly with the slaves gained more consciousness... They realized these are humans

And maybe they should be treated as such.

Those AMERICANS who gained the enlightenment back then realized how wrong it was to treat fellow sapiens sapiens as property.

New laws were made in favor of freeing the slave man and some Americans didn't agree causing civil wars between Americans who were for slavery and those against slavery.

These civil wars began to lift the darkness placed on the humans brought over from the AFRICAN continent to THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, eventually allowing for some slaves to find or buy freedom also making them indentured servants and or free men.

Forward.
There were laws called Jim crow laws. These were actual legal laws that instigated and initiated segregation between slave descendants and colony descendants.

Not even mentioning the NATIVE AMERICAN descendants...

These laws would be as petty as to prevent the same bathroom sharing of different races of sapiens sapiens. So if your complexion was too dark you couldn't use certain public restroom facilities and restaurants, sadly.

Eventually as the slave masters with influences on local or national laws kept sneaking out to mate with the slave women sometimes possibly involving rape and mixed children were made, it kind of got hard to act like you hated the slaves so much when your offspring were hybrids of them...

So times began to change more. There still existed a hate between some AFRICAN descendants, EUROPEAN colony descendants and NATIVE AMERICAN descendants but as more integrated activities began to spread the barriers of difference between descendants began to dissolve.
Climbing up to current times.

For me learning some of the harsh past of AMERICA and seeing how integrated it has become with allowing immigrants to come over fleeing sick Hitler energy it shows progress.
Maybe not as fast progress as the higher-ups NON HUMAN higher-ups planned but some progress is being made.

I see how when I was younger as a gen Xer, my peer group paid attention to the racism of the past and present back then that seemed to over inundate the older groups and the political partisanship but we didn't really let it drive our behaviors. I actually got to see Martin Luther Kings dream happen were I grew up and as a AMERICAN it was beautiful. My peer group was of male and female of blacks and whites and we were all cool. We had Ignorance at times try to show its face but the group usually looked at it as weird. We didn't feed into racism or Republican or Democrat politics.
😂 It was, I know Bill Clinton didn't lol with politics and we were back to our gen Xer stuff.

Many of us felt Bill Clinton was a cool president not because he was doing stuff he shouldn't have but because we felt hey if the president can make mistakes maybe we as AMERICAS children aren't so bad besides he didn't inhale. 🙃
Nonetheless being a AMERICAN in my peer group meant to again be free somewhat of the past that was once segregated and now is as the melting pot of EA*RTH a integrated country. A integrated country that now provides better rights for it's various ethnic/genders and racial-religious groups living here.
It's not a perfect country and had had a aggressive past but it does show signs of progression.
We just got to have less cop killings of the public (if any) because it reminds some descendants of the past practices that were unfair and yet legal.
We got to also keep in mind this is the leading country of this Planet and so if we take the public stages or enter political arenas we should represent accordingly, Intelligently AND RESPECTFULLY. For the rest of the world follows our lead. And if we are leading with Ignorance Ignorance will eventually override our lead.
This is what it means to be a AMERICAN in my perception...

originally posted by: alldaylong
a reply to: SonOfTheLawOfOne

Do Americans have some sort of insecurity issue?

They keep going on about their foundation. You don't here that from any ATS members from other countries and how their country began.

Weird.

That's because it all worked really well, until several decades ago when it was all decimated. There's still memory here of when a single-income household (with an average job) was enough to comfortably sustain a family, provide for healthcare, have time for family and friends, and a comfortable retirement.

That has disappeared for the majority of the population now. We go bankrupt if someone gets sick, we pay health insurance premiums instead of saving, and mom and dad both have to workin most households to afford low-quality processed foods.

Yeah...we long for the golden age.

a reply to: alldaylong

Do Americans have some sort of insecurity issue?

Not sure if its an 'insecurity issue' but many do have a bizarre and unsettling obsession with their Founding Fathers and The Constitution.

And for a system that is allegedly the best form of government on earth their country does seem to have more than its fair share of division, inequality and injustice.

And before anyone pipes up I'm certainly not saying our system is any better.....far from it. It's outdated and thoroughly unfit for purpose.

They keep going on about their foundation. You don't here that from any ATS members from other countries and how their country began.

Maybe its because as a nation they are still so young?

Weird.

Very.

originally posted by: dogstar23

originally posted by: alldaylong
a reply to: SonOfTheLawOfOne

Do Americans have some sort of insecurity issue?

They keep going on about their foundation. You don't here that from any ATS members from other countries and how their country began.

Weird.

That's because it all worked really well, until several decades ago when it was all decimated. There's still memory here of when a single-income household (with an average job) was enough to comfortably sustain a family, provide for healthcare, have time for family and friends, and a comfortable retirement.

That has disappeared for the majority of the population now. We go bankrupt if someone gets sick, we pay health insurance premiums instead of saving, and mom and dad both have to workin most households to afford low-quality processed foods.

Yeah...we long for the golden age.

You'll find that was the case accross the western world, a single income family was enough to pay for the house, the car and a decent family holiday every year and still leave room for savings, that is not unique to america.

originally posted by: SonOfTheLawOfOne
I was born and raised in this country. My family came over on boats long ago as most have. I have never aligned with a specific political party and was taught that to be American, I ought not.

What does it mean to me to be an American?

It means understanding how this country was founded. The ideas, principles, philosophies, thoughts and experiences that made it possible for America to advance faster and achieve more than any other nation on the planet in recorded human history. In just over 200 years, we did more than most nations that had been here for thousands prior. The Founders stood on the shoulders of giants, learned from other great thinkers, studied history, law, pondered for months and years without the distractions we have today. They were truly great men, all things considered. They wanted to build something that was flexible enough to change as the People changed, but rigid enough to uphold a set of values and principles that could withstand the test of time.

It means having a great respect for these men and what they did. It means educating yourself as a countryman or countrywoman, to know what this country was meant to represent and what the importance is of changing it. It means recognizing when the government has overstepped its boundaries and how to push back against tyranny. The government was not founded for America to have government, it truly was founded to protect the People from government. As an American, it is our responsibility to keep our government in check the same way you would a neighbor - with a good fence - and that fence is our Constitution, Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence. As an American, it is equally important to understand how these incredible documents came to be, not just what they say and mean.

As an American, it is my responsibility to help enlighten and educate other Americans, who might be new here and don't fully understand our culture, or who might be long standing citizens who equally don't understand our culture. To embrace them so that they will embrace our laws and the responsibilities we have to our Country. As an American, the Founders wanted this, and expected it in order for our great Republic to withstand the mix of cultures that our laws and freedoms would tolerate, far beyond the rest of the world. America was designed to accept people of all nations, and yet we are today one of the most divided over just two or three types of political ideologies as if they were people from warring nations.

The Founders did not all have the same ideas and beliefs, yet they managed to come up with a compromise that is rarely ever talked about. The debates that raged on for months and years to arrive at what we have today are now just whispers in time, lost to history and books that are no longer taught from.

I would ask that no matter what your political ideology is, that you spend time to get to know the Founders a bit more personally. See what they said for themselves, what they wrote about, what they thought about, debated about, dreamed about, and imagined for this amazing Country.

Here are some excellent books worth reading:

Books that were written about or read and influenced George Washington

The Law of Nations - Emerich de Vattel

Rules of Civility - Richard Brookhiser (highly recommended)

George Washington: The Indispensable Man, by James T. Flexner

Washington: A Life, by Ron Chernow

Thomas Jefferson

Tristram Shandy - Laurence Sterne

Notes on the State of Virginia - Thomas Jefferson (highly recommended)

Two Treatises of Government - John Locke (highly recommended)

Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power - Jon Meacham

Thomas Jefferson and the New Nation - Merrill D. Peterson

James Madison

The Federalist Papers - James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay (highly recommended)

James Madison - Irving Brant

James Madison (The American Presidents Series) - Garry Wills

The Last of the Fathers: James Madison and the Republican Legacy - Drew McCoy

The Republic of Letters: The Correspondence Between Jefferson and Madison

Benjamin Franklin

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin - Benjamin Franklin (highly recommended)

The Way to Wealth - Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin: An American Life - Walter Isaacson (highly recommended)

The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin - Gordon S. Wood (highly recommended)

John Adams

John Adams - David McCullough (highly recommended)

Novanglus: A History of the Dispute with America - John Adams (highly recommended)

John Winthrop: America's Forgotten Founding Father - Francis J. Bremer

Other

The 5000 Year Leap - W. Cleon Skousen

Alexander Hamilton - Ron Chernow

Common Sense - Thomas Paine

There are many more. The Founders were not perfect, not by a long shot. They were human, and humans make mistakes, therefore, they made mistakes. Knowing their intentions with context by reading about them and their own words will change the way you look at our government today, and you will instantly see the direction we are headed in is toward nation annihilation.

As an American, our job is to fix it. Stop the divisiveness on party lines, and look at what is wrong through the lens of our Founders and an American, not a Liberal, Democrat, Republican, Independent or any other ideology you align with. Align yourself with the Constitution and what it represents, not just what it says. Understand what it means to be an American and not play party politics.

Please feel free to contribute what you think it means to be an American, and any literature that would help others who might not have the knowledge our Founders intended.

~Namaste

I wish people had that same passion for the world as a whole, instead of their country. The world would most prob be a better place!

But hey, most of us are conditioned and brain washed to have this passion for their countries. How else would these sociopathic leader get away with what the do.

Trible love = tribal warfare

originally posted by: alldaylong
a reply to: SonOfTheLawOfOne

Do Americans have some sort of insecurity issue?

They keep going on about their foundation. You don't here that from any ATS members from other countries and how their country began.

Weird.

You know what happens to a house without a foundation ? Anyway, sorry you don’t understand. This is exactly what the OP is about. Revisionist history seeks to elude handing Down to future generations the understanding of the Revolutionary War, the reason for it, and what the Founders stood for.
One should also understand Francis Bacon’s reference to the New Atlantis. And the mysterious stranger’s entreatment to “Sign that document”.

a reply to: ThirdEyeofHorus

You know what happens to a house without a foundation

Yes, it's static and doesn't move.

In other words it doesn't adjust to modern requirements.

Hope that helps ?

originally posted by: SonOfTheLawOfOne
Please feel free to contribute what you think it means to be an American...

Just a few that almost always make me weep patriotic tears:

• Stocking up on cheap consumerist crap at Walmart
  
• Turning my TV off using a pistol
  
• My never ending quest to keep up with the Kardashians
  
• Football where the guys actually get knocked down from being tackled by a 300lb man and not because someone put a finger in their ear
  
• Drinking cold beer brewed by a faceless conglomerate
  
• Prepping for the inevitable zombie apocalypse
  
• Thinking a Republican is different than a Democrat
  
• Blowing s*** up in other countries when we find out they're on top of our oil

a reply to: alldaylong

It's a fair question. I think most countries have their own demigods and heroes. You can usually find them printed on their money or referenced in political speeches (any side).

Ours were fashioned by mythmakers who earned their spots on our currency by forging a narrative of our nation's founding as a hedge against charges of insurrection and illegitimacy. I suspect that's how most countries are formed, to be honest.

The game-changer: the printing press was popular in Europe around the same time and our early leaders saw an opportunity to shape a new tool for enshrining goodness, declaring "badness," and controlling our population's view of both.

They called it "the free press," and it replaced torture chambers as a method of indoctrination.