We are quite a weird country, aren't we? In 1776 we had the courage to stand up

[NRaleighLiberal]

to England and become independent. We came here to escape persecution and find freedom - yet we persecuted those who were here before us, and built the country on the back of slaves. We demanded freedom, but took it from so many.

Flash forward - we arm ourselves to the teeth because we are afraid of "the other". We are under siege from a super tiny agent that can spread, yet what do we do? We hoard, we once again arm ourselves to the teeth (getting ready for what? make dystopian movies real?)

We have scientists but don't trust them. We have experts but don't listen to them. We think we are invincible - yet when we find out we are not, we complain that we weren't warned.

The more I try to figure out what we human beings are, the more confused I get - we are capable of so much, but often settle for so little.

By the way, this mini rant was triggered by this article in Slate this morning - https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/03/courts-coronavirus-spread.html - and recent days of reading what the orange baboon has been spewing in his "news conferences"

Have a great day, all - be well, and stay safe.

[greymattermom]

1. Not everyone did.

Many were loyalists and some left the country for Canada.

[shockey80]

4. True, many also went back to England.

Many American's stayed here and fought with the British. Then you had the Americans who played both sides of the fence, carried two hats if you know what I mean. People never really change.

[Mike 03]

2. This morning I very gently tried to give someone a pep speech.

Even though she never liked leaving the house to begin with, now that she has to stay home she's upset. I understand where she's coming from. She's having to eat canned food. She's watching a lot of TV. She's thirty years older than me, but I just reminded her about the sacrifices made by the WWII generation. She's borrowed many books from me about WWII and the Holocaust. I was trying to put things in perspective.

Our country was in the international news yesterday because we have people in this country calling police emergency numbers when they run out of toilet paper. There are pictures of Americans in Asian, European and Middle Eastern newspapers with shopping carts overflowing with toilet paper. I just think we need to dig down and remember who we are.

[virgogal]

3. Different demographics in 1776,no comparison.

[liberalmuse]

5. Wealthy landowners had a reason to fight King George.

Today, they are content with Trump’s tyranny of the masses and his coddling of the elite.

[Lonestarblue]

6. Our nation was founded in violence,

and it was built with violence against those who were weaker than the mostly white hoards who believed that the land was theirs to take, with indigenous populations being just so much trash to take out. Many still believe that today. We have at least a third of the nation still refusing to apologize for slavery or even to believe in its horrors. Most people never give a thought to how we, as the government, slaughtered Native Americans and forced them to unproductive lands. We have millions of self-styled militia members arming themselves for a violent takeover of the federal government.

And we continue the violence and the lack of truth generation after generation because we never teach the children that what the country did to Native Americans and slaves was wrong. We have not learned from history.