Your name is not koala.
Scrummy, in that statement you are right.
Laurie
TheLadyL wrote: I firmly disagree with your statement that most Americans believe that America is the world. I think you confuse that opinion with American's belief in American Exceptionalism. American Exceptionalism is the thought that the United States is qualitatively different from other nation states. This thought or ideology, Americanism, is based on liberty, egalitarianism, individualism, republicanism,, populism and laissez-fair. This view stems from our emergence from a revolution, and being called by political scientist Seymour Lipset the first nation. This came can be traced to Alexis de Tocqueville, the first writter to describe the country as exceptional in 1831 and 1840.
"American marches to a different drummer. Its uniqueness is explained by any or all of a variety of reasons: history, size, geography, political institutions, and culture. Explanations of the growth of government in Europe are not expected to fit American experience, and visa versa. " This was stated by Scottish political scientist Richard Rose.
Remember people we where founded on the basis of religious freedom, and personal freedom. We didn't bow to the thought that birth determined your status.
One of the most important books I have read is The Law by Frederic Bastiat, written in the eighteen hundreds. He understood, the greatest single threat to liberty is government. Thus the founding of America. America would not be here if not for the fact that Europe lacked the ideal of personal freedom and believed that government determined each mans course.
Miss Information