| ----� You wrote that the US is �kind of the big-hearted, athletically-inclined kid who is trying to stick up for all the others.� I trust that you believe that, and I think that many Americans�good and decent people�believe that as well. The facts, however, don�t bear it out. Much like children sent to Sunday school, we are indoctrinated with the mythology of America as youngsters, via school, the media, and what is passed down to us from family members, and�like religion�most of us adopt the creed of our parents without questioning it. As in the short story �The Lottery,� people tend to follow the traditions of their ancestors, no matter how bizarre or baseless they may be. With the rose-colored glasses removed, the history of American foreign policy is not one of benevolence, but rather a disturbing chronology of imperialism enforced by the violence of the US military. Further, the history of American domestic policy is not the feel-good narrative �of the people, by the people, for the people,� but instead it is one of the exploitation of poor and working people by the wealthy. In reality, we live not in a democracy, but in a plutocracy. I am sure, ----, that you will disregard what I have written above as the ranting of a pessimistic, disillusioned, out-of-touch, left-leaning ideologue. That is the way most respond because it can be difficult to dismiss all we are taught, but like Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the tooth fairy, the American Dream is a fairy tale. Like religion, it is an ingenious ploy that allows the powerful to remain so because the rest of us believe that this is the proper order of things. It�s hogwash. Jim |