Dr.Dross

It seemed so simple for so long, so black and white. America was great and good and right and just in all that it did. We were exceptional! We were God's ideal for this weary and wretched world! The true hero! I loved being an American. Dressing in the morning since I was seven was like putting on a uniform for the defense of Liberty. All Americans were warriors for Freedom. And then I read too many books, only looking to see how great our country truly was. I found that our nation is deeply flawed. Not irredeemably, for we do look and act to correct ourselves, a true marvel in any age, but grievous mistakes have been made. America is no hero by a long stretch--and that hurts.

To admit to our many mistakes as a nation is not to undermine our nation. The exceptional thing about America is that it tries, and usually does, correct its wrongs as best it can. Coming to accept my nation as weak and flawed at times, even terribly wrong, increases my respect and awe at our Constitution and governmental processes. We right those wrongs and move on. Where I need help is in not reacting to citizens who see America as having done no wrong. Those history revisionist that see our slave-holding Founders as "tirelessly working" to end slavery. They did not.

Zemirah Loc: Sojourner En Route...

How incredibly childish! There is nothing perfect under the sun. We live in a fallen world.

Thank God for the United States, - the least fallen of them all. How others feel - not your business!

Unhappy here? Move... Pick another country.

Examine the world:

Despite being almost universally outlawed, it is estimated that 35.8 million people are enslaved worldwide. 24/7 Wall St. reveals which countries have the most slaves.

While many believe slavery is an issue of the past, it remains a real, yet largely hidden, problem. An estimated 35.8 million people are enslaved worldwide, according to a recent report by the Walk Free Foundation, a human rights organization.

Modern-day slavery differs from traditional slavery. In traditional slavery, people were considered legal property. However, modern slavery is defined as possession or control of a person that deprives them of their rights with the intention of exploiting them.

In some countries, the number of enslaved people is especially high. Five countries alone account for 61% of all people believed to be living in modern slavery. India had the highest number of people living in modern slavery, at over 14 million. Based on figures from the 2014 Global Slavery Index, these are the countries with the most slaves:


1. India

> Est. population in modern slavery: 14.3 million
> Pct. population in modern slavery: 1.14% (5th highest)
> Human Development Index Score: 0.586 (46th worst)
> GDP per capita 2013: $5,450 (50th lowest)


2. China

> Est. population in modern slavery: 3.2 million
> Pct. population in modern slavery: 0.24% (59th lowest)
> Human Development Index Score: 0.719 (76th worst)
> GDP per capita 2013: $11,868 (77th lowest)


3. Pakistan

> Est. population in modern slavery: 2.1 million
> Pct. population in modern slavery: 1.13% (6th highest)
> Human Development Index Score: 0.537 (39th worst)
> GDP per capita 2013: $4,574 (44th lowest)


4. Uzbekistan

> Est. population in modern slavery: 1.2 million
> Pct. population in modern slavery: 3.97% (2nd highest)
> Human Development Index Score: 0.661 (60th worst)
> GDP per capita 2013: $5,176 (48th lowest)


5. Russia

> Est. population in modern slavery: 1.0 million
> Pct. population in modern slavery: 0.73% (32nd highest)
> Human Development Index Score: 0.778 (57th best)
> GDP per capita 2013: $24,298 (46th highest)

1thinker2another

Dr dross - while I agree with some of your sentiment, you apparently need to do some deep research before you speak about or cast aspersions on our founding fathers. They were brilliant !!!

Loki Loc: Georgia

Your knowledge of history is somewhat parochial. History is determined by events, which are in turn fueled by the prevailing beliefs of the times. These beliefs reflected the reality of the period.
At the time the Constitution was written, slavery was practiced over most of the world. It was legal in most places and was an accepted part of life; viewed as a normal state of affairs. Slavery began to be seen in a bad light after the industrial revolution made slavery less profitable in many places. Capitalism, rather than morality, began the demise of slavery.
Most of the slaves in the US were brought here by Spanish, Portuguese, and especially English ships. Out of some 12 million slaves transported to the Western Hemisphere from Africa, about 600,000 ended up in what became the US. The rest went to the Caribbean, Mexico, and South and Central America.
You cannot judge people of another era by the standards of this one. Their reality was much harsher than ours, their beliefs correspondingly different. They have to be judged against the backdrop of the physical reality of the time and place in which they existed. The moral code they adhered to was one born of the times. Flogging, public executions and the stocks were also commonplace and accepted as perfectly normal. Witchcraft was the explanation for imperfectly understood scientific phenomena. A person from today who was transported back to the Spain and Portugal of Columbus, Ferdinand and Isabella would quickly find him or herself the guest of honor at an impromptu party thrown by Tomas de Torquemada and his boys.

The Founders were, by the standards of their time, quite enlightened. At a time of monarchies and dictatorships, they advocated a Republic. Liberals say that women and slaves couldn't vote. Slaves couldn't vote anywhere, and to the best of my knowledge, neither could women. The Framers were an aristocracy for the most part, but one who gave a say in government to the middle class of the time, which was property and business owners. This idea of letting the masses govern themselves was, in it's own right, revolutionary for the time and place.
The US has made mistakes. All great nations do. The treatment of the American Indian was despicable by today's standards, but commonly accepted the world over at the time it happened. I would suggest that there probably aren't 20 acres of real estate in the world, (excluding Antarctica,) with any sort of strategic or tactical value that have not been conquered and re-conquered repeatedly. I mentioned the American Indian tribes a moment ago. The fact is that many of them acquired "their" land in the same way that we "acquired" it from them. They stole it, same as us. The pre-Columbian Indian society was not a model of peaceful cooperation. The Iroquois, the Shawnee, some of the Algonquin tribes in Canada, the Lakota, along with cousins Cheyenne and Arapaho, the Navajo, Apache, Yaqui, all were conquering, warlike tribes who either killed, enslaved or drove off the original occupants of the land they claimed. Let us not forget the Aztecs and Incas, either. Both Cortez and Pizzaro were able to conquer the Aztecs and Incas respectively due to lots of help from smaller, weaker tribes that had been victimized by these "civilized" tribes.

In short, every nation had made mistakes, and some of what you think of as mistakes were not regarded as such by the standards of the times in which they happened.

goofball Loc: timbucktoo

Great post! I'm passing it on to all my friends.
USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA

robmull Loc: florida

I suggest you get help from China or India or Pakistan or Cuba or Venezuela or Mexico or Ghana or Iran or Cambodia or N. Korea or Mongolia or Myanmar, Dr. Gross. But with your "blame America first" attitude, just don't come cryin' to me!!! GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO DONALD J. TRUMP!!! GOD BLESSED AMERICA!!! Now; "DRAIN THAT SWAMP!!!"

Tasine Loc: Southwest US

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I love my country and I will do everything I can to protect her and her heritage and mores. That is NOT TO SAY I LOVE MY GOVERNMENT. One MUST divide the two when talking about love, hate, honor, integrity, etc. Of course our government makes mistakes - frequently, and there is a tall wall between their mistakes being true mistakes and being necessary.....and that is up to the beholder. Were all of us blind and non-thinkers we would simply believe what we are told. We are NOT all blind though more and more do seem to be wearing blinders. Has our COUNTRY MADE MISTAKES? I maintain NOT....... with one exception: our horrid mistakes over all time have been the result of the people we elect.

Obviously you see some mistakes our nation has made. You might want to let us in on what you are thinking. I have a suspicion the mistakes you see were not mistakes of our nation, but of our politicians.

ssgtgood

Ever consider what the world would be like today if the US hadn't entered WWII? Think about it a little, see what conclusions you can come up with. It wouldn't be a pretty picture thats for sure.
Semper Fidelis
Sic Semper Tyrannis
Molon Labe

Tasine Loc: Southwest US

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Absolutely!!! You and other military people risked all to protect and help the innocent who were being seriously mistreated by tyrants, and all of us owe you a lot of gratitude because our military was the only thing that kept many, MANY people alive. I humbly thank you for your service to our nation.

ssgtgood

Thank you Tasine. I very much appreciate it.
Semper Fi

Mom8052 Loc: Lost in the mountains of New Mexico

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Well put Loki! Great Response!

popparod Loc: Somewhere else.

Right on Brother,

If you can read this, thank a teacher,
If you're reading it in English, thank a Veteran.

Gatsby

Don't be so quick to fault the founding fathers for not doing that which could not be done in their time.

No constitution that ended slavery could possibly have been ratified in 1789, however by limiting the future import of slaves

they did take an effective first step. We maintained slavery for 150 years under British rule, and for only another 70 years under our

our self rule. Our Constitution has been the greatest experiment in self governing ever attempted on this planet.

Have we made mistakes, of course we have and we have learned from them. Do we sometimes elect and appoint corrupt

people who abuse their power? Yes Hillary, we sometimes do. Will we make more mistakes, yes people make mistakes.

When we get down to "brass tacks", is our form of government, and its results, better or worse than others?

You are free to form and express your own opinions, to run for office in the hopes of improving our nation and the world.

We are free to change our form of government anytime the PEOPLE SEE FIT. Not many peoples of the world can make that claim.

If the world is ever to have a single government, a single Constitution, is there any better than our own?

ssgtgood

THANK YOU GREEN BAY!!!!!!!!!

waltmoreno

Yeah, I can help you. This country is the last best hope for man on earth. Because of the freedoms afforded the individual here in the US, no other place on planet earth offers the individual more opportunity to improve their station in life. And this includes all present and past societies.
So as far as "not reacting to citizens who see America as having done no wrong", why bother? No society is, nor has been perfect. But to repeat part of my first line, this is the best hope for man on earth.