As a Briton, I have an ironic joke about America's fourth of July celebrations that goes like this: a group of white, Protestant(one signatory was Charles Carroll of Carrollton, a Catholic), heterosexual(presumably) firstborn property owning(and more than one such as my own nameskae George Washington were slaveowners) males put their heads together and declared that they were sick and tired and beaing oppressed by His Majesty King George III!

If I had to be asked how I feel about America I would reply that it was a bit difficult for me to "love" a country whose founding fathers seriously regarded people like me(ie of color) as "three fifths of a human being" . But in reality it would tend to fluctuate with the policies of the currtent Administration- there is just NO way to get away from the fact that certain Administrations(usually but NOT always Republican such as George W.Bush's) aroused either chilly inidfference at best on my part or at worst venomous loathing and contempt.

Still, America HAS been a force for good in world affairs(most notably during WWII and the Cold War) and the best I can say for it is that it produces Goerge Washington, Abraham Lincoln Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, JFK, LBJ, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama as well as right wing yahoos such as Father Charles Coughlin, "Tailgunner Joe" McCarthy, William F. Buckley, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly , Sean Hannity and other birds of a similarly malodorous feather.

Who knows_perhaps the accession of Barack Obama means that America is beginning to make good on its promise of "liberty and justice for all"(not just white males)?

What do YOU think?

Terry