Who the Hell Are We? 2003-03-05

"One of the things that really bothers me is that Americans don't have any sense of history. The majority of Americans don't have any idea where we come from, so they naturally succumb to the kind of cliche version that Ronald Reagan represented." Robert Massie Pulitzer Prize-winning historian

I am constantly amazed by the ignorance of people. Let me rephrase... I am constantly amazed at how many people choose to remain ignorant.
Ask someone about the history of America. Nine times out of ten, you'll get an answer along the lines of...

"Well, first Columbus discovered it, in uh... in, uh.... a long time ago. And then the pilgrims came over. And then we fought the American Revolution. And then we fought the Civil War. And then we fought both World Wars. And then Korea. And then Vietnam. And then Persian Gulf."

That's great. A fine example of American learning.

I don't even try to research anything, and I learn the most fascinating things about our history. About my lineage. About my race.
Sure, it's because I like to read and all... But still. Most people I know think the United States was founded on religion. Most people I know think the Civil War was fought over slavery. Most people I know don't know, nor do they care, that this country has never once been debt-free. Not once.
And we're only a couple hundred years old. There hasn't been a whole lot of time passing that would "make" us forget. We chose to. Look at other nations, who have histories dating thousands of years old, not hundreds. They remember. They care. What happened?

I've been reading a book lately, called "Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do". Excellent book, very educational, but also fun to read. It also happens to have a famous quote on every single of its 650 pages. It was written by Peter McWilliams, and it was about how absurd Consensual Crimes are, and why they should be legalized. You can go here to read more about him, and also read the complete texts of everything he's ever written.

"No loss by flood and lightning, no destruction of cities and temples by hostile forces of nature, has deprived man of so many noble lives and impulses as those which his intolerance has destroyed." --Helen Keller

"Truth resides in every human heart, and one has to search for it there, and to be guided by truth as one sees it. But no one has a right to coerce others to act according to his own view of truth." --Mohandas K. Gandhi

"In framing a government, which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed, and in the next place, oblige it to control itself." --James Madison

"The United States ranks 13th on the Human Freedom Index.Twelve other countries are freer than the United States." --United Nations

"All that is good is not embodied in the law; and all that is evil is not proscribed by the law. A well-disciplined society need few laws; but it needs strong mores." --William F. Buckley, Jr.

"In a free society, standards of public morality can be measured only by whether physical coersion - violence against person or property - occurs. There is no right not to be offended by words, actions, or symbols." -- Richard E. Sincere, Jr.

"The happiness and prosperity of our citizens is the only legitimate object of government." -- Thomas Jefferson

"It gives me great pleasure indeed to see the stubborness of an incorrigible nonconformist warmly acclaimed." --Albert Einstein

"I believe in only one thing: liberty; but I do not believe in liberty enough to want to force it upon anyone." --H.L. Menken

"Perhaps, after all, America has never been discovered. I myself would say that it had merely been detected." -- Oscar Wilde