re: #17 freetoken

Most complex issues are like that.

The problem is that Bachmann (and her mentors) want to make the founding of the US into a Magickal Moment, some sort of divine act. Thus the Blessed Founding Fathers can’t be shown to have blemishes.

The reality of the “founding fathers” is that they were a group of white males who had some real disagreements and who had all the usual flaws of humans. It was a very human thing for them to do what they did - rebel. They wanted to be in control versus being under the control of the King of England. Fortunately the leaders of the group were pretty learned men and embraced, at least in part, the ideas about “rights” and “government” that were being floated at the time by the more radical thinkers in the Western world.

Yes.

I would also add distance from the Crown played a role. As a rule, the further away from London the easier it was to successfully rebel, which by definition also meant the adoption of the new ideas of which you spoke. That is why secessionist movements in Ireland and Scotland were unsuccessful. Proximity was cruel as the Scots, Irish and Welsh will tell you.

While the English dealt with slavery, they were only too happy to maintain harsh control over Scotland, Wales and Ireland.