Thanks E.D. for that post and link. I'll be anxious to read all of the detractors exclaiming a need for a list of footnotes for sources. And exclaiming that this is nothing more than a sectional rant by a Southern biased "neo political" organization. This was concise, organized, supported, and easy enough for a junior high school student to read and understand. (well some of them anyway) Truth usually is easily understood and explained. I hate to say it as an American citizen but the "Union" or more specifically the United States Government has always been an imperialistic gathering of thieves and liars. True statesmen were in history and even more so now few and far between. When our government realized it's independence from Great Britain it started off on it's own conquest and crusade for land, resources, power, and control. And they are still at it today with an ever growing vigor. How else can you explain "manifest destiny"? It would be like telling a Native American that he was merely here illegally inhabiting our land before we could realize our right to the ownership of it. America's spreading of democracy across the globe is nothing more than a ploy to get in on the organization and control of the governing system of those countries that we feel worthy of being annointed with our divine intervention. In and so doing get a grip on the wealth and resources of those areas. Is this not happening in the Middle East? Not much has changed since the great internal conflict of the 1860s. The government still has it's hands so deep in our pockets that they can take inventory of the lint. Look at our economy today. Regardless of how bad things get for the citizenry, those "governing" will always get their pay. FIRST. Men of wealth, power, and influence used to go to Washington to help forge a great system of justice and fairness to those they represented. Now men go to Washington to establish and extend their wealth, power, and influence and insure that the legacy of their "service" is beyond reproach. And they have even been so good at it that we can't really get rid of them. And is "service" an accurate term? These people don't serve. They are handsomely paid to restrict and remove our God given rights. I'm glad to be an American. And sometimes I find myself proud to be one. But it's usually that I have found myself proud to be a neighbor, a defender, and a friend to those that need my help and support. I hope your post will have incited a great discussion of what America has become. Not another example of quotes and opinions supported by select sources of proving minute "reasons" why we do what we do. Americans maybe should stop waving their flags with one hand while they wag their finger with the other. Our history HAS already been written and it's easy to see (God Bless Paul Harvey) the rest of the story.

Keith