Quote:
Originally Posted by EnderD_503
Then the queer community screams back that such and such a thing is "unAmerican" because it violates "such and such amendment" (which apparently is serious business in the good ol' US of A).
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It sure as fuck is serious business in the 'good ole USA.' It's something -- the constitution -- that I'd actually fight for. It's other Americans, sadly, who are the most serious threat to it. I have a problem with the two party system, but the rights guaranteed by our constitution, no. I am grateful and proud of the constitution. I love it. As in partriotic LOVE.
I am not a believer in American exceptionalism, and I see the damage it causes. But we did something special with that constitution and that revolution. And it HAS been formative. It has made us a people who are different for more reasons than our language or how we prepare our food.
I love what Sandra Day O'Connor is doing with her retirement. She is working on improving civics education. What we have in the U.S. is a form of government set up to fight people like the religious right. It was specifically DESIGNED to protect us from extremists. It amazingly also was designed to protect most unpopular minorities, and we have amended it to broaden those categoris. And -- most importantly -- it allows for change. Change without destruction. It is a great document, the first of its kind. And I CARE about. I also believe that growing up in a culture that has taught and applied that document, however partially, is part of what makes me who I am. It does not make me better than anyone else. But it is part of who I AM. As a person.
Yes, calling something un-American has usually come from the right. My point was to turn that around on them. Just a rhetorical strategy. Nothing I care about. But I do care about my identity as an American, and I believe it means something. And not what those fucking right wing zealots say it does. I
will take them on about that because it means something to ME, as an American.