#united

Far from being the product of a democratic revolution and of an opposition to English institutions, the constitution of the United States was the result of a powerful reaction against democracy, and in favor of the traditions of the mother country. ↗

— John Acton

#being #constitution #country #democracy #democratic

As it has for America's other indigenous peoples, I believe the United States must fulfill its responsibility to Native Hawaiians. ↗

— Daniel Akaka

#believe #fulfill #i #i believe #i believe the

We can always count on the Americans to do the right thing, after they have exhausted all the other possibilities. ↗

— Winston Churchill

#state

A little later, the Apollo mission was consummated and there were Americans on the moon. I remember distinctly looking up from the quad on what was quite a moon-flooded night, and thinking about it. They made it! The Stars and Stripes are finally flown on another orb! Also, English becomes the first and only language spoken on a neighboring rock! Who could forbear to cheer? Still, the experience was poisoned for me by having to watch Richard Nixon smirking as he babbled to the lunar-nauts by some closed-circuit link. Was even the silvery orb to be tainted by the base, earthbound reality of imperialism? ↗

— Christopher Hitchens

#nixon #united-states #experience

What did “good government” really mean? Langlie and his brotherhood promised an end to political corruption. (There’s no evidence that Langlie ever even took a drink, much less a bribe.) The days of “honest graft” were over, at least for a while. But seen from another perspective—that of ordinary citizens without access to Langlie and Abram’s elite network—Langlie didn’t so much end corruption as legalize it. Langlie wasn’t opposed to a government organized around the interests of the greedy; he just didn’t want to have to break the law to serve them. ↗

— Jeff Sharlet

#bribery #government #legality #political-corruption #united-states

Being a superpower is like being a Santa Claus that everyone hates. ↗

— Jon Stewart

#politics-of-the-united-states #funny

An old joke has an Oxford professor meeting an American former graduate student and asking him what he's working on these days. 'My thesis is on the survival of the class system in the United States.' 'Oh really, that's interesting: one didn't think there was a class system in the United States.' 'Nobody does. That's how it survives. ↗

— Christopher Hitchens

#humour #joke #united-states #united-states

The United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem. ↗

— Walt Whitman

#greatest #poem #states #themselves #united

In the words of a very famous dead person, 'A nation that does not know its history is doomed to do poorly on the Scholastic Aptitude Test. ↗

— Dave Barry

#sat #united-states

I'd like to see a flag made not out of stars and stripes, but rather fingers and knuckles, so that it could really wave in the wind. It would be the most welcoming flag in all the world. ↗

— Jarod Kintz

#fingers #flag #global #globalism #patriotic