Unitarian John Calhoun statue came down last week in Charleston

Please don't confuse Jefferson 1776 with Madison 1787 ratified CONSTITUTION PREAMBLE.....1776 clearly divorced itself from the bible & bible gawd FROM " NATURE AND NATURE'S god

I just love the revisionist history of the country being founded on religious freedom . In the early years. , just straying into a town with a different denomination was enough to get bumped off as a heretic. Ironically religion had nothing to do with the first settlers . I suggest reading New World Inc for a fairly complete look at the actual commercial reasons for the colonies, but it's not complete, they only covered what was in British government records. Considering I had a great. Great to the umpteenth power Grandmother who was born in what is now Haverhill Mass( in fact, all the streets in the center of that town are named after my various ancestors). ..20 years before the Mayflower got there the town was already established before then( yeah. I thought it was a typo too, until I contacted the Massachusetts Maritime Museum and found there were countless private trading settlements all up and down the coast long before the official story. They even had ships passage records whe great Grammy etc travelled to England in at 16 years old and came back on the 2nd ship after the Mayflower with a new husband. Yes, I can officially thumb my nose at the Mayflower crowd. Religion had zero to do with it., although many adopted the denominations of the religious groups who moved in later.These folks were generally not trading above board back in England, much was diverted to other European ports to avoid tax ...gee , rich guys operating offshore to avoid taxes...hmmm)

The whole, bit about the US constitution etc being unique... the brits would beg to differ. These rights were already present back in England. and had been for a while.

My late Grandmother was old enough, born in 1880s, to have been raised to where she wasn't supposed to learn how to read and was ostracized for it.( epic fail, she became an English teacher and was well into adulthood before being able to vote. It's no secret where my family got its progressive views.

All the schmaltz about too much taxes, just the same tired bit we hear today from Republicans groaning about having to pay too much, when in reality they pay less than just about anywhere in the world. During colonial times, the people back in England were the ones with something to complain about. They were paying way more in taxes, in order to subsidize the military protection along the coast to protect the 'mericans from Spanish etc raids. So the rich white guys were getting the poor folks back home to subsidize their business ventures.

At the time the revolution was brewing. Some native communities in the upper Ohio valley ( my kids are partially descended from one )were already ( and had been for ages) living in nice houses. Had schools stores etc, but were having a huge problem with I'll prepared white folks showing up and stealing their stuff. The brits showed up and told them if they helped quash the rebellion, they would keep the squatters away. We all know how that went. One of good 'old Washingtons first things he did was to disband these folks and kick them out. Nothing says freedom and equality like a little good 'old fashioned ethnic cleansing.
The more things change, the more they stay the same

I was PROUD to be an American because it meant it was a sophisticated and open-minded enough country to be able to take criticism, even condemnation, in stride. That was the country's greatest strength.
In listening to, and learning from, critical voices it was able to learn and improve, constantly learning from mistakes and correcting them, thus ever improving, thus creating an ever more perfect union.
Notice I didn't say PERFECT, but ever MORE perfect, never actually attaining the state of perfection, so always deserving of criticism. CONSTRUCTIVE criticism.
This reminds me of Jefferson's words, "...the PURSUIT of happiness," never actually attaining the state itself, for who can be truly happy when so many of our citizens are not happy, instead are miserable? But free to look for it, at times catching a glimpse of it, occasionally experiencing moments of it, even perhaps days, weeks, months, even years of it. But for most of our lives usually an elusive target.
So we are constantly in pursuit of perfection, but smart enough to know that pursuit is constant, never-ending, most often or in extreme cases always, out of reach. But as long as we keep pursuing it, it WILL be within reach. It's when we STOP pursuing it that it drifts OUT of reach, and when that happens, hope fades, enthusiasm wanes, spirits flag.
That's when I stop being PROUD to be an American.

I would suggest that far from attaining old age America is experiencing the petulance of adolescence.

A know it all who is always right, regardless of the testaments of wisdom!