Liza:
> The veneration of individual freedom, and the tolerance that must be
> there in order for individual freedom to exist, is wholly American. I
> see that people don't quite realize this. These are the principles upon
> which this country was founded, and, like I said in my last post, really
> constitue the American "religion." I think this is easier for
> non-Americans to see this than Americans. I think it is hard for us to
> see ourselves clearly. But if anything defines us, it is these
> principles.

LOL. I was something of an Americana basher myself until I spent several
years overseas. Only then could I see what was absolutely beautiful about
the USA.

> When you fully recognize the uniqueness of this very new, very
> outrageous project called the United States, you get a little nervous
> when you think that the world could lose this brash "work in progress."

That's exactly it. The USA is an experiment, an ongoing one: Can people live
in freedom of individualism with a government based on continuous argument?
Beats the heckola outta the alternative...

> Individual freedom is a big, big deal.  The United States is the best
> organized attempt so far at actually insuring personal liberty, in the
> whole history of the human race until this point.

I always held France up in the same league, myself. But, yeah, USA is a
better example.

> Last Sunday, at Yankee Stadium, Muslims and Jews sat next to each other.
> A Hindu, a Sikh, a Buddhist, a rabbi, an African American woman minister
> and a Greek Orthodox Catholic priest stood side-by-side in a crowded
> ballpark, holding hands, with  "Adidas" and "Bud-Lite" signs flashing
> overhead!  In other places in the world they are killing each other's
> children.

I hear you. But in my neighborhood a first grade girl was bludgeoned to
death after being repeatedly raped by a 14 year old boy who lived in the
neighborhood...

Cheers,
Kirt