British Expatriate Network

http//www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_7779.shtml                        
Came across this today, and found it to be of interest. The comment doesn't surprise me. The constitution is the one piece of paper that has separated this country from every country on this planet. It ensures citizens get a fair shake. When it was written Europe was just one hundred years out of serfdom, and this piece of paper granted citizens for the first time in history the opportunity to hold political office start a business or practice your own religion. It is a marvelous piece of work.

I was thinking if the world doesn't blow up in 100, 500, or 1000 years from now how will historians view America, we've gone from a country with integrity hard work and ambition to a over weight (me too by 40-50 pounds expected to go up more for holidays), undisciplined over-indulged country of deceit. After WWII it seems that slowly this country has been headed in the wrong direction,every war after WWII was a political war-no direct threat to the country,the harder you work the more you have to catch up, and the once strong middle class is slowly being separated between rich or poor.I've read somewheres that the middle class was not suppose to happen, and needs to be destroyed. We are free from serfdom or has the land owner become the all mighty dollar we still slave to everyday

It’s all swings and roundabouts. There’s nothing new under the sun, and pretending the good old days were perfect and that sunshine flowed out of our forefather’s bottoms is simply simple.

Integrity: Americans have a long history of going back on their word or simply lying particularly regarding treaties signed with native Americans, but also concerning lands protected by the Louisiana Purchase originally owned by Spanish speaking people in the southwest, supposed separate but equal treatment under the law for blacks in the Jim Crow south, and to some degree the people of Asian descent interred unconstitutionally during everyone’s favorite war.

Hard work: While I’m not a big believer in hard work as a virtue, I do hear a lot about this school of thought. I’d argue, with historical examples if you’d like, that most who showed up here in the first place only did it to strike it rich and live the easy life. The hard work part only started after their dreams were dashed. It’s probably a lot easier to take failure and disappointment if you embrace a puritan work ethic.

Ambition: I see plenty of ambition in America today. The thing is, ambition is relative. I have relatives who’s biggest ambition is to collect enough crown royal bags to make a big purple quilt. But I digress. Ambition without opportunity and talent is just bitterness waiting to happen.

As far as political wars being a sign of the slow decline of a once great nation, I’d argue that every war has it’s origins in politics, religion, and economics. And with the exception of everybody’s favorite war and the current war on a noun we usually instigated it.

Bollox..Yes it did protect you, of you were white, male and a property owner, so it was not the savior of the freedom of mankind, to say it was is complete tripe...and what has the country that has adopted it become? a complete division of have and have nots, the most violent country in the western world that is completely paralyzed by social divides, has the highest rate of poverty in the western world and cannot educate its children...sorry America is a failed experiment.

Don't know how historians will view present day US, but from the the other countries that are represented by NATO they appear as a country absorbed with beating the rest of the world into freedom loving society ( US style).

They also present a face that is not to be trusted. They not only reject many treaties but refuse to honour ( when it goes aginst them) those it has joined.

I have to agree with Mr Snuggles - the Constitution is one of the greatest documents ever. Sure, some of the wording and politics is a product of its times... but nonetheless those guys had a damn good idea.

As for the whole "let's bash America because of its historical policies of treaty breaking"... remind me again just how good, honorable, nice, tolerant, friendly and welcoming the British Empire was.

Eisenhower was right... the Military-Industrial Complex is running things now and everyone's worse off. Ike was the last decent guy to run this country.

It was a damn good idea, but administrations tend to ignore it when it suits their purposes and they can get away with it.

I couldn’t agree more. The British Empire was well dodgy. But my whole point is that the image of good old America where everything used to be great and everyone honest and pure is just so much rubbish. We’ve always had scoundrels and scandals and until you accept that you’re living in cloud cuckoo land.

I’d imagine the people of Iran, Guatemala, Congo, and Cuba would disagree.

I'm very well-versed in American history, you had way cooler scandals and scoundrels than the Brits.

Some people might consider me a "revisionist historian" - I prefer to think of it as actually knowing what the hell went on.

Too right!

This is the same propaganda I hear in the schools. It doesn’t do either of those things.

Many countries have constitutions and ones that protect human rights to a much higher level than the US. Secondly, there are many injustices and contraventions of human rights in the US, far more than other industrialized nations, so the US constitution does not ensure that people get treated fairly or equally.

I'm with Vegas - the Constitution is a phenomenal document. When it was written much of Europe was a generation out of serfdom. The freedoms it protected were the envy of the common man around the globe.

If only it included term limits.

The envy of the common man?  I suppose you're right, because women aren't men, blacks were 3/5th's of a person and if you were an injun, you weren't included.  

When it was written.

Quite honestly it sounds like it was there to protect exactly the type of men that wrote it and nobody else.

Who exactly envied the US constitution? By the time the US constitution was written most countries already had their own constitution, the UK's having evolved since the Magna Carta.

I wouldn't have thought the US constitution would be the envy of any countries that govern by parliament as the US parliament is rigid, others including the UK can adapt and evolve by introducing new laws.

The main body of the US constitution seems to concentrate on telling us who's in charge and then how difficult it is to change that. Its only the ammendments that start talking about freedom and not all of them are too great. The freedom to bear arms is most contraversial at the moment and seems to me to be the most purposefuly misinterpreted one. The eighteenth ammendment was a cracker; it banned making booze. How would that be the envy of anybody? Plenty of the other ammendments (voting rights, slavery, etc) were decades behind other countries.

To begin with in the era when the constution was written no european recognized blacks as people, I am ashamed to say. Working class Europeans were barely even recognized in europe and serfdom didn't even end in france until 1789(constution written 1787). The fair shake I was refering to was "the american dream", the ability to come here with nothing and make something out of nothing- impossible in europe at that point in time. Human rights were not even a consideration for any class or group of people.
The american basis for government was a pretty sound idea and the country flourished until Kennedy was assinated IMO, then thats when lobbiest and such infiltrated our senate and congress and it was hello money goodbye american citizens. They do not practice politics as they used to in the interest of citizens it is the special interest groups that get the attention.
I must say I am looking forward to moving to England. I do enjoy the people of this forum and find myself enjoying the company of british folks than the overly sensitive overly dramatic americans. Even if it rains too much is cloudy and cold and all the food is boiled well the boiled part I'll have to bring some taco packets and eat tacos alot. I know nothing of english politics and thats good.
I write this in relation to the topic because this country is getting more and more frustrating every day. We are making more enemies faster than we can kill them, and at the rate we're going my children (14,3,2,1) are not going to have it as nice here as I did. That was the referrance to the middle class being divided to upper and lower.
It is well past my bed time and I'm just rambling, make it a great day.

:shock: Politicians trying to bend the Constitution? Shocked, shocked I tell you.

I’d imagine the people of Iran, Guatemala, Congo, and Cuba would disagree.[/quote] :shock:

Yeah, I'll give you that. Subtle foreign policy wasn't exactly Ike's gig. But he did stand up for desegregation, built interstates and gave the finger to Joe McCarthy.

/hopefully all quotes from right people

All excellant points. I believe he was really out to make things better for Americans. Unfortunately, if that meant some duly elected official in a foreign country had to take a CIA bullet, so be it. :oops:

On the whole, I'd agree he was one of the better presidents. His active dislike of McCarthy in particular speaks well of him.