WHAT AMERICA AIN'T | 2002-11-23
Right after World War II, an American was telling a European refugee in New York about what was wrong with America. The immigrant replied, "Yes, but you just don't appreciate what America AIN'T."
It is very, very important for us to take this point seriously. Everybody wants to take credit for "what America is all about."
In my opinion, what makes America great is that we got a fresh start in 1790.
But that great start consisted mostly of NOT doing things. Our Founding Fathers were determined not to make the same mistakes Europe had, and they did a great job of it.
But I never see anybody, liberal or conservative, ever mention that what America is about is dropping the European nonsense. Today, the official historian of respectable conservatism, Michael Jaffe, says that about the only thing that America was founded on was five words in the Declaration of Independence, "All men are created equal."
A liberal will tell you that what America is all about is multiculturalism and multiracialism. Back here in the real world, there was not a single Founding Father who did not take it for granted that America was white and Northern European.
A conservative will tell you America Is All About Religion. We have the healthiest churches on earth, but we also have the first churches on earth that were built and maintained PRIVATELY. Every European state pays for its churches and sponsors its churches. And in every European country religion is dying.