Reply #14: but still you use the words "Founding Fathers"

[tocqueville]

I think (check my updated post above) that the problem has to do with America's (relative) youth. While Europeans can trace their existence back to the last Ice Age (the signs are everywhere) it's impossible for Americans, except for natives. White Americans original "home" is... Europe. I really understood that when I met chocked Americans here in France in the direct aftermath of 9/11. They expressed their gratitude when they heard the mourning bells in the churches and the sirens by saying stuff like "overwhelmed by the support from where we originally belong". It was a bit like suffering children seeking comfort from their grand-parents... they were really lost. An American woman I know (settled 30 years in France and with family here) told me that her first reaction was "I am going home"... but her children told her "Mom, your home is here"... they were very, very lost. It was really sad.

So I understand that the emotional around "homeland" is very complicated...