bytheway asked: 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 [Christianity’s] 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. The US doesn’t need improvement compared to other countries; it is the greatest country in the world.
TRUTH: Wrong again. I’ll only cite the statistics here.
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 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)-
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)-
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)-
So much for those “socialist” Europeans and those “backward” Asians, hm? We can do better than this.
MYTH 3: The US government loves to help other countries.
TRUTH: This is a myth. The US government tends to be motivated by interests, not humanitarian principles.
Denmark gives the most amount of its GDP (1.01%) to developing countries; Norway gives 0.91%; the Netherlands give 0.79% and so on until the end of list, where the USA sits. Yes, America ranks DEAD LAST in foreign aid at a pathetic 0.1% of its GDP, compared to the other 21 nations listed as developed nations. The idea that the US government is a heroic bunch that runs around the world helping the poor and the disempowered is not backed up by the evidence. We have one of the stingiest governments on earth.
Most Americans believe the US spends 24% of its budget on aid to poor countries; the actual amount is well under a quarter of 1%. Our country also ranks #5 on asylum-seeker acceptance rates (#1 is Denmark and #2 is Canada).
Another interesting fact: Conservative Red states have a divorce rate 27% higher than the liberal Blue states, the per capita rate of violent crime in Red states is 49 per 100,000 higher than in Blue states, the top 5 states with the highest rates of alcohol abuse are Red states, and the per capita rate of gonorrhea in Red states was 41 per 100,000 higher than in the Blue states. Time to unshelf the antibiotics for our “ethical,” “God-fearing” conservative friends with their “traditional family values.”
yes g, they are not answering becuz they are unable to think critically about the world becuz unfortunately this government doesn’t do a good job at providing its citizens with quality education…in a few words…they keep ‘em dumb on purpose..like a flock of sheep…the dumber they are, the easier to control.
what do i think? I think the US government should get rid of privatized healthcare, and offer it for free, just like in many many other countries. Also, the government should offer free education, again, as in many other countries. This would help reduce the social segregation that exists, poverty, and create some sort of chance at income equality between the different “classes” . There are huge gaps of income between the classes, the middle class is shrinking and no party of the government cares.
How could this country do this? well, instead of meddling in other countries when their is no proof of weapons of mass destruction or of grave terroristic activities and using BILLIONS AND BILLIONS of dollars on war, they could “fix” these problems. The problem is, THEY DON’T CARE ABOUT CITIZENS. they care about MONEY POWER.
So, i think that the “rich” should be taxed even more.
Also the president of the country shouldn’t own anything of great value, because this causes a conflict of interest
and I am from the US too and grew up here, so no i am not an illegal citizen or a foreigner. I can be as negative as I want…..everyone says this country is the BEST IN THE WORLD becuz of FREEDOM OF SPEECH, religious freedom, AND THEN WHEN SOMEONE SAYS WHAT THE FEEL, POSTS SOME DISTURBING STATS, YOU FREAK OUT AND OSTRICIZE THEM….yes WOW, YOU REALLY DO BELIEVE IN FREEDOM, dont you????
And these are not rambles….read the statistics..these are INTERNATIONAL ANNUAL RESEARCH STATS…to see where each country stands on important issues, the quality of life, quality of healthcare, and freedom of the press.
yes answer man, everything that doesn’t conform to your ideas, which are probably shaped by propaganda (you eat it all up don’t you?) is some crazy liberal/socialist tactic. You sound like a paranoid conservative…..arrest all the commies!!! the world is coming to an end!! hahahaha….ridiculous.
and I don’t hate this country, i am from here…as i have already written…you prolly don’t really read everything before you comment.
I just like to try to think critically, instead of bashing everything that isn’t MAINSTREAM propaganda.
also answer man, you are the one that doesn’t GET IT….I am not the one comparing the US to N. Korea….other people are, which is absurd….that is why i brought it up. Easy to compare two extremes so that the USA can come out of the comparison all glorious. BS! Compare it to more similar countries to see how the US is REALLY doing. Do you understand when you read? can you put 2 and 2 together…jeez.
and slicktop80: i don’t see you offering any solutions even though you are disturbed yourself. Always waiting for others to make the move huh? whatever. At least i am bringing these “disturbing” stats up, since most people have no clue and never dare to dream about comparing the US to other countries in a research study.
truth faith
