The difference is this is our country. It is the only heritage we have. We have no great historical depths ... no castles or heroic quests, beyond ones that have been denied us by history. It is one Constitution, one government, one idea that propels us. It is a small and fragile trust, but a mighty one. Our very planet has survived in a violent, turbulent universe because it is small. It has changed to accommodate us because its ecosystem is fragile. Its' smallness and fragility is its central strength, very like this country governmental concept.
For those Europeans (like Eddie Izzard) who celebrate the US' downfall while they speak of their "country Europe", I would suggest a similar fate might befall you as the one which befell my stepmother. She had always sneered at the idea of unions (she was a solid Republican). She worked at a company without unions, she always pointed out -- a company which paid just as much as the other companies that were unionized and SHE didn't have to pay for a union -- but the very instant the unions were broken in those companies (due to the pressure from non-union companies), everyone's pay was cut, layoffs were massive, and benefits were a thing of the past. She didn't understand what had happened.
Unions -- groups that arbitrate on behalf of people -- benefit everyone, not merely those in the union. When they are strong, they force employers to pay a decent wage, even at non-union facilities, because of the threat of losing workers.
When they are gone, those protections disappear.
One might keep that in mind with any early celebration of my real country's downfall -- not the country that has been sold to Halliburton.
To those who think they've destroyed the US and celebrate this, I would suggest you've merely set us back. We'll survive, small and fragile for awhile, but we will grow stronger. And we will remember who struck us down.
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