”In America, there's a failure to appreciate Europe's leading role in the world. Instead of celebrating your dynamic union and seeking to partner with you to meet common challenges, there have been times where America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive.” -President Obama in France

Our American Union (commonly called the United States) was established in 1787, and has proven itself stable and effective since then. Yet, Europe has never shown any interest in joining our Union. A European Union was established over two centuries later, and this represents Europe’s leading role in the world?—we should seek to partner with them?

As the principles of the American Union have proven effective for over two centuries and through two world wars, any partnership with Europe should be based on our principles rather than those of the newborn and largely untested European Union.

In addition, each relevant State of the European Union gets a vote at the G20. Yet, it is not so for our States. Why does the American Union receive only one vote total?

There is a strange misunderstanding underlying all this. We need to make it clear that we are and always have been "United in diversity" here in America. (quote is from the European Union Constitutional Treaty). Europe may lead the way in fashion design, but America has always led the way in establishing effective political structures.

Am I off base here?

I enjoyed this pun... seeing through his transparency. =P

As I understand it, the issue is not what was done, but to whom it was done. This is the significance of the "enemy combatant" language. The terrorists were not fighting on behalf of any country, and were thus not protected by any treaties or conventions made between countries. While one might argue that water boarding is is morally reprehensible, it was in this case technically legal. This is my understanding anyway.

http://www.912petitions.com/

Excellent! Thank you!

I have here attempted to create a formal list of grievances. If you think that I have left something out, please comment below.

We, the People of these United States of America, find that our government has overstepped its constitutional bounds and stepped on the rights of the people. We find that we are taxed according to a graduated system that can be changed by a simple vote, which is thus abused by the majority to tax a minority of the population at an arbitrarily inflated rate for the purposes of redistribution either directly, or in the form of governmental programs from which the said taxed minority enjoys little or no benefit;

That the taxpayer has no say in how his or her money is spent, often being forced to fund unnecessary programs that he or she finds contemptible or immoral;

That the government continues to spend our way further into debt, forfeiting the rights to our labor to those countries which act as our creditors;

That it has not heeded the Constitutional process of creating legislation, having voted to pass a bill without even considering its Constitutionality, neither having read nor discussed it, and without having thoroughly discussed its financial consequences;

That it has unjustly profiled its political opponents as potential domestic terrorists having, at the very least, done a sloppy job of defining "Right Wing Extremism;"

...Am I missing anything?

I couldn't agree more.
In order for any movement to succeed, it needs a firm foundation. Right now, we are treating anger as our foundation; and while this anger might be legitimate, it can be dismissed. Reason cannot be dismissed so easily (though the more skeptical among us all just shuddered with the thought that it might be). Thus, I have written a letter to my Representative, to my Senators, and to the White House that I think represents the approach that we need to take in addition to the Tea Party protests. If this movement is to survive and have a lasting impact, everyone must know exactly what we are protesting and why, and must be able to explain it to others as well.

It can be found at this URL:
"http://philofcommonsense.blogspot.com/2009/04/philosophy-of-commonsense.html".

America needs to know that this is what drives the Tea Party movement. It is about neither political parties nor frustrated opinions; rather, it is about the very foundations of freedom.

I apologize that I have written posts to this effect several times. I don't mean to beat a dead horse, but I'm not certain that I am being heard.

First things first. We need to clearly articulate our philosophy and demand that the government do the same. To this end, I have written a letter to my Representative, to my Senators and to the White House. You can read it at the URL found below. Please look at it and consider sending it as well.

"http://philofcommonsense.blogspot.com/2009/04/philosophy-of-commonsense.html"

This is what drives the Tea Party movement. It is neither about political parties, nor frustrated opinions--it is about the philosophical foundations of freedom.

To compound the problem, I'm not sure how many teachers are left who know how to think for themselves anyway--and if the teachers can't think for themselves, where does that leave the students? Because of this, I am unsure of how to proceed in reforming the American approach to education.

Dorothy Sayers, a friend of C.S. Lewis, wrote an article on educational reform called "The Lost Tools of Learning." It is well worth reading.
"http://www.cambridgestudycenter.com/artilces/Sayers1.htm"

"http://philofcommonsense.blogspot.com/2009/04/philosophy-of-commonsense.html"

I sent the letter from this link to my representative, to my senators, and to the white house. I think that it is the message we need to send to the country--that this is a movement driven by reason and honest debate.