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Firstly, the originators of our constitution did not base it on following the lessons from the Bible. They could not have done so. If they had, women, children, slaves, Native Americans, anyone who was not an alpha white male, would have been treated with the same equality and afforded the same freedom as was given the alpha white males. Those so-called "rights," were not applied to all. Only the alpha white males were allowed such freedom. Those ten commandments? They work quite well for the alpha white male to dispense "morality." Jesus was not an alpha white male. Jesus was a native Middle-Eastern man. He gave us two commandments. He told us that ALL the law and the prophets hang on these two. Love God with all that you are, and love your fellow humans being as you love yourself. It is so ironic to me that those who take Jesus as their personal lord and saviour are the ones most likely hung up on the ten, and do not pay attention to the TWO. Jesus never said to love the "almighty dollar." That, my friend, is why we feel our country is in such trouble. It is not the morality of our neighbors (it is never our own morality) that is causing our Nation's difficulties. It is the love of the "almighty dollar," and the power it gives. What would happen if we had a law that stated no one, and no corporation could profit from war?

Interesting post, and excellent reply LadyEarth~ And there will be many more interesting replies~

I have mixed feelings about our American History~Coming to a awesomely beautiful country, that was inhabitated by peoples who truly loved and respected the lands, and were living in harmony with it~ And then foreigners coming in and pillaging the pristine environment~( and I know all who came did not)

Also slavery, leaves a bad taste in my mouth~

We have done a lot of good, but why go there, Greatest Nation? For we are not the Worlds police, we run on Power, and money, and we could help all the world, and our own people~

Don't get me wrong I am blessed to be an American, and I am grateful daily that we have all that we have, but maybe we need to downsize a bit, become more humble, and open our eyes to the rest of the World~ If not I'm afraid our walls will come tumbling down!!!

We have the the most, but the highest crime rate, highest prison pop., metal illness is high,social ills, drugs, etc...

We need to truly live our beliefs and love one another, that simple, stop the craziness, and then we will be Great!

When I hear people claim that this is the greatest nation, I have to wonder: says, who . . . and according to whose standards. Saying: “it’s so” does not make it so.

I ask you . . . or your emailing friend: what are the criteria?

According to Wikipedia . . . which lists the relative ranking of nations economically, educationally, politically, and socially . . . the U.S. has a single ranking as number one. Our other rankings range from 3rd to 137th, although most . . . not all . . . are within the top third of compared nations. view link

I find one particular ranking disturbing: in the realm of education, we are 20th out of 38 nations in our ability to solve problems. This has far-reaching consequences and could seriously impact future growth. It may also answer the question, raised in your post, about whether we can ever return to some degree of greatness . . . assuming we were ever there, to begin with.

The lone #1 ranking is in the realm of competition. I would be interested in learning whether nations which rank lower on the competitive scale . . . and, therefore, higher on the cooperative scale . . . have outstripped us in the more desirable (to me) rankings.

And to the patriots, with their basso chorus of “USA, USA, USA,” fists raised in rhythm, I offer the following definition of matriot, a word coined by one of a pair of activist-artists, whom I had the pleasure of meeting several years ago. Together, they created the artwork, which you can view at the link provided:

Matriot (ma´ - tri - at) noun 1: One who
loves his or her country. 2: One who loves
and protects the people of his or her country.
3: One who perceives national defense as
health, education, and shelter of all people
in his or her country. (Orig. FPA, 1991)

Text © 1992Frances Payne Adler

view link

MsTick, Thank you so very much for matriot. I had not heard the term before and it is so perfect! A real Rainbow Warrior you are! Bless you!

You're welcome, LadyEarth. Though it was written by another, I'm happy to pass it on.