From: Platt Holden (pholden@sc.rr.com)
Date: Fri Jan 16 2004 - 13:03:12 GMT
Dear Wim:
>The ideas that
> Americans value so highly are not unique to them either (incidentally they
> were borrowed from the French thinkers that spawned the French revolution).
> The not-so-great thing about Americans is, that they tend to make an
> unbalanced selection from those borrowed ideas (putting 'freedom' on top
> and relatively neglecting 'equality' and 'brotherhood').
Since the war for American independence preceded the French revolution by
13 years (1776 vs. 1789) it's false to claim that American values were
borrowed from the French. Rather, the greatest influence on American
values were the writings of the Englishman John Locke. Furthermore, you
will not find references to "brotherhood" (fraternity) in American
revolutionary documents. That's a strictly European value, seized upon by
Marx and his followers (comrades) with the resultant socialist shadow that
overlays Europe to this day. As for "equality," the American value is
equality before the law, not equality of outcomes and redistribution of
income so dear to the European notion of justice.
Regarding American arrogance, I think it was Babe Ruth who said, "It ain't
bragging if it's true."
Regards,
Platt
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