Top 5 myths about America

[HannibalBarca]

http://www.craigslist.com/about/best/sfo/163437715.html

MYTH 1: The US was founded on Christian principles.

TRUTH:

This is incorrect.
The Constitution never once mentions a deity, because the Founding Fathers wanted to keep their new country "religion-neutral." Our Founding Fathers were an eclectic collection of Atheists, Deists, Christians, Freemasons and Agnostics.

George Washington, the Father of our country, and John Adams (Second President of the USA) CLEARLY stated in the 1796 Treaty of Tripoli: "The Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian Religion.”

G.W. rarely attended church and instead followed a popular 18th century philosophy called Deism—a Star Wars-esque philosophy that believed in a cosmic energy or big-ass universal "Force." The dictionary says that Deism is "a system of thought advocating natural religion based on human reason rather than revelation," that had nothing to do with Christian principles.

James Madison, original mastermind of our Constitution, was an Atheist to the core who loved skewering Christianity. In 1785 he wrote, "What have been fruits? More or less in all places, pride and indolence in the Clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution.”

Thomas Jefferson, who sat down and authored The Declaration of Independence, rarely missed an opportunity to laugh at Christianity. In a letter to John Adams in 1823, he wrote: "The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus…will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter."

More ammo: In 1814, Tommy J. wrote about the Bible's Old and New Testaments, "The whole history of these books is so defective and doubtful -- evidence that parts have proceeded from an extraordinary man; and that other parts are of the fabric of very inferior minds.”

In fact, it was President Jefferson himself who first wrote (to a Baptist church group in 1802), "The First Amendment has erected a wall of separation between Church and State." Therefore, when Jefferson talked about “Nature’s God,” the “Creator” and “divine Providence ” in the Declaration that he wrote, he was being a hippie and referring to a general cosmic energy-- not the Christian God.

America is not a Christian nation. Period. Our Constitution derived from the post-Christian Enlightenment values of reason and truth...never from the paranoid yammerings of that otherwise compassionate cult leader who fucking died in the Middle Eastern desert 3000 years ago.


MYTH 2: US Conservatives tend to be patriotic, ethical Americans; liberals tend to hate America and are immoral......

[ThomCat]

1. This is very scary stuff. We're a barbarian backwater country.

USA Ranking on Adult Literacy Scale: #9
(#1 Sweden and #2 Norway)- OECD

USA Ranking on Healthcare Quality Index: #37
(#1 France and #2 Italy)- World Health Organization 2003

USA Ranking of Student Reading Ability: #12
(#1 Finland and #2 South Korea)- OECD PISA 2003

USA Ranking of Student Problem Solving Ability: #26
(#1 South Korea and #2 Finland)- OECD PISA 2003

USA Ranking on Student Mathematics Ability: # 24
(#1 Hong Kong and #2 Finland)- OECD PISA 2003

USA Ranking of Student Science Ability: #19
(#1 Finland and #2 Japan)- OECD PISA 2003

USA Ranking on Women's Rights Scale: #17
(#1 Sweden and #2 Norway)- World Economic Forum Report

USA Position on Timeline of Gay Rights Progress: # 6 (1997)
(#1 Sweden 1987 and #2 Norway 1993)- Vexen

USA Ranking on Life Expectancy: #29
(#1 Japan and #2 Hong Kong)- UN Human Development Report 2005

USA Ranking on Journalistic Press Freedom Index: #32
(#1 Finland, Iceland, Norway and the Netherlands tied)- Reporters Without Borders 2005

USA Ranking on Political Corruption Index: #17
(#1 Iceland and #2 Finland)- Transparency International 2005

USA Ranking on Quality of Life Survey: #13
(#1 Ireland and #2 Switzerland)- The Economist Magazine ...Wikipedia "Celtic Tiger" if you still have your doubts.

USA Ranking on Environmental Sustainability Index: #45
(#1 Finland and #2 Norway)- Yale University ESI 2005

USA Ranking on Overall Currency Strength: #3 (US Dollar)
(#1 UK pound sterling and #2 European Union euro)- FTSE 2006....the dollar is now a liability, so many banks worldwide have planned to switch to euro

USA Ranking on Infant Mortality Rate: #32
(#1 Sweden and #2 Finland)- Save the Children Report 2006

USA Ranking on Human Development Index (GDP, education, etc.): #10
(#1 Norway and #2 Iceland)- UN Human Development Report 2005

[gaspee]

2. So how does one

Get to move to Finland? ;-)

[ThomCat]

3. If not for the weather

I'd seriously be considering it.

[gaspee]

5. New Englander here

And while New England's winters aren't nearly as bad as Finland's, I think I could cope. Especially since I prefer 30 degree weather to 90 degree weather.

Unfortunately, I don't make enough money to be a vialable immigrant to a 1st world country. Or I would already be living in Canada.

[genie_weenie]

6. The US and United Staters are dumb but

those rankings are skewed. Compare the populations of the US and Sweden, Finland, Hong Kong and all those nations you listed. Combined they do not equal the population of the US.


All taken from the CIA factbook (July 2006, est)
Unites States 298,444,215

Iceland 299,388
Norway 4,610,820
Sweden 9,016,596
Finland 5,231,372
Hong Kong 6,940,432
Switzerland 7,523,934
France 60,876,136
Japan 127,463,611
Italy 58,133,509

[gaspee]

7. That's part of the allure

Being part of a smaller country is an attractive idea to me. I live in a small state (the smallest) and want to move up to Vermont to get a little more breathing room. But you are right; smaller countries are easier to administer and to run, but then again, their ecomomies aren't nearly as large.

[paparush]

4. Here Here!!

Religion has no place in politics.

Religion has no place in the modern world. Period.

[ThomCat]

9. While I agree with you almost 100%

I hope you're wearing your flame resistant underwear. :)

[paparush]

10. Always!

:-)

[genie_weenie]

8. No, the biggest myth is: The People are the Government of America.

The Rulers of the US, who in a fit of good propaganda continue to tell the People are Public Servants, have been able to foist this most insidious myth onto the nation for 225+ years. The President et al have been very good at getting the People to identify with the Nation. In fact, the ruling elite make the decisions, and their minions/slaves do their bidding and killing.

[katty]

11. yes-that is the biggest myth, incredibly popular & successful