I love how the author of this article at Truthdig starts this one out:
Editor’s note: The past is prologue. The stories we tell about ourselves and our forebears inform the sort of country we think we are and help determine public policy. As our current president promises to “Make America great again,” this moment is an appropriate time to reconsider our past, look back at various eras of United States history and re-evaluate America’s origins. When, exactly, were we “great”?
Were great, because we have long ago lost the honor of being called that through both this nation’s words and actions. The national character has eroded almost ever since the thirteen colonies decided to temporarily band together to resist a world empire.
Why did we fight? Was it necessary? Did we win? The cherry-picked anecdotes of jingoism answer none of these vital questions, but ask them we must. The decision to take a nation to war, to send young men into combat, is a solemn one indeed. And the War of 1812 is one of only five wars the United States has officially declared.
My guess is, most products of US government schools (myself included) will remember Dolly Madison rescuing the portrait of George Washington from the White House, the penning of the Star Spangled Banner at Ft. McHenry and Andrew Jackson’s win south of New Orleans (actually just a few weeks after the peace treaty was signed in Europe). In all actuality, for a nation formed FOR liberty, it is interesting how things change when “the rubber meets the road”:
It was a peculiar war, full, in equal measure, of paradox and farce. Thousands died, but little was gained. In some cases brother fought brother. And, in a strange tinge of irony, the side that best championed liberty was not always American.
So check out this article so you can be made aware of our real history, the good, the bad AND the ugly so you too may see domestic and world events through glasses that don’t assume “American Exceptionalism”. We are not wise enough to understand the global tensions .. we have no business to have deep state or military assets all over the globe as we cause much more harm than good .. and there will be BLOWBACK for us, our kids and grandkids to deal with. That ain’t right!