Re: CHAT: Californian secessionists (was Re: Californian vowels [was Re: Likin

Quoting D Tse <exponent@...>:

> I think it's somewhat like this - Americans tend to be proud of and
> know their constitution and amendments, etc, some even being able to
> quote it off by heart, whereas I doubt that anyone can quote a single
> line from the Australian constitution...
I think it was George Will who said that Americans have a "civic religion"
in which people look to the Constitution and Declaration of Independence in
somewhat the same way that Brits used to look at the monarchy, but magnified.
So great is the reverence accorded it that even when what appear to outsiders
to be major flaws in the system, such as the Electoral College, the argument
that we should not tinker with the wisdom of the Founding Fathers actually
gets widespread credence.  (In the 212 years since the Constitution came
into effect, over 700 bills have been submitted to alter or abolish that
particular institution, but none have succeeded.)

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Thomas Wier <trwier@...>

"If a man demands justice, not merely as an abstract concept,
but in setting up the life of a society, and if he holds, further,
that within that society (however defined) all men have equal rights,
then the odds are that his views, sooner rather than later, are going
to set something or someone on fire." Peter Green, in _From Alexander
to Actium_, on Spartan king Cleomenes III