Happy Fourth of July

[thelerner]

I thought this was well written..

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4185300-happy-birthday-america-asset-allocation-daily

 

"..Finally, how independent is America? The U.S. succeeded in gaining "independence" from Britain formally via the Treaty of Paris of 1783, but trade between the two countries resumed immediately, albeit with an enormous trade imbalance in Britain's favor. The so-called "special relationship" between the two countries was already well underway, on a de facto basis, before the 18th Century ended, and the U.S. gained heavily through the protection of the British Fleet, just as so much of the world can thank the U.S. military for its security today.

 

In short, the U.S. was never fully independent because no country is or ever has been not dependent on other countries. The U.S. has been sovereign for nearly a quarter of a millennium but it does nothing without taking other countries into account.

 

In short, the U.S. achieved its lofty status through unity, shared principles and cooperation with its former No. 1 enemy as well as others. While the U.S. remains the world's most powerful country, it has weakened in each of these three areas. By the way, I could have written this same mini-essay word-for-word under previous administrations - so let's please desist with needless vituperation against the "other side," whoever that might be.

 

To the contrary, the Fourth of July is a time to remember that "we… all hang together or… we all hang separately"; that the blessings of liberty are the basis of prosperity for the American people and their posterity; and that America has extended liberty and prosperity to much of the entire world through an unprecedented degree of international cooperation. Happy Birthday America!"

 

 

 

, now lets grab fireworks, celebrate and blow up some small part of it.

Edited July 4, 2018 by thelerner

[Aetherous]

Happy American Independence Day!

[Apech]

Give us the colonies back!

Edited July 4, 2018 by Apech

[thelerner]

There's a couple states we could give back, not sure you'd want'em though. 

[Apech]

3 minutes ago, thelerner said:

There's a couple states we could give back, not sure you'd want'em though. 

 

 

We'll take the east Coast and the West Coast - you can have the middle.

[thelerner]

I think I'll keep those.. how about some of our South?.. tell ya what, I'll throw in Florida, thats East coast. 

[Marblehead]

53 minutes ago, thelerner said:

I think I'll keep those.. how about some of our South?.. tell ya what, I'll throw in Florida, thats East coast. 

You can't have Florida.  It's mine.

 

[zerostao]

12 hours ago, Apech said:

 

 

We'll take the east Coast and the West Coast - you can have the middle.

and old expression round year is: Come and take them!

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

Edited July 5, 2018 by zerostao

[joeblast]

21 hours ago, Apech said:

Give us the colonies back!

London already won the civil war and destroyed the original constitution, what else do ya want! 

[Apech]

15 minutes ago, joeblast said:

London already won the civil war and destroyed the original constitution, what else do ya want! 

 

Your money.

[joeblast]

1913

 

but the richy richy rich took yours back in Edward's day    which one, I dont recall off the top of my head

[Apech]

1 minute ago, joeblast said:

1913

 

but the richy richy rich took yours back in Edward's day    which one, I dont recall off the top of my head

 

We lost our money fighting Nazis (on our own for most of the tiime).

[Michael Sternbach]

22 hours ago, Apech said:

 

 

We'll take the east Coast and the West Coast - you can have the middle.

 

Can I have California, please? But if that's too much to ask, I will content myself with SoCal.

[zerostao]

3 hours ago, Apech said:

 

We lost our money fighting Nazis (on our own for most of the tiime).

I quoted Churchill on the Trump thread on the 4th of July. If we're to believe Tony Blair's recent statements, the UK, Britain, England, British Empire, ya'll got too many names for starters, be more like America, we have one name >>America. Oh Tony Blair is telling us that ya'll across the pond have turned into a bunch of nazis yourself, what gives? Nice win over Columbia btw, hope your happy, those Columbian players are now probably fearing for their life.

Spoiler

 

Let England Shake

[Apech]

59 minutes ago, zerostao said:

I quoted Churchill on the Trump thread on the 4th of July. If we're to believe Tony Blair's recent statements, the UK, Britain, England, British Empire, ya'll got too many names for starters, be more like America, we have one name >>America. Oh Tony Blair is telling us that ya'll across the pond have turned into a bunch of nazis yourself, what gives? Nice win over Columbia btw, hope your happy, those Columbian players are now probably fearing for their life.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Let England Shake

 

We have got one name the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Island.  Your country is the United States of America - America is the continent.

[thelerner]

Love this country, but in my view,

if we'd lost the war of independence, we'd be..

Canada.. which forgive me, doesn't sound so bad.

 

 

Actually, more likely we'd be a whole mess of things.. French, Spanish.. perhaps even Russian on the West Coast..  but mostly English..  History is fluid, often a compilation of unlikely events. 

Edited July 5, 2018 by thelerner

[Marblehead]

Have you ever been a citizen of Canada?  I haven't and don't want to be.

 

Polar bears eat people up there.

 

[thelerner]

2 minutes ago, Marblehead said:

Have you ever been a citizen of Canada?  I haven't and don't want to be.

Polar bears eat people up there.

 

only the bad and slow ones.

 

Hoping to get up to Stratford to brush up my Shakespeare.  

See the Tempest and Rocky Horror Picture show. 

https://www.stratfordfestival.ca/

[zerostao]

30 minutes ago, Apech said:

 

We have got one name the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Island.  Your country is the United States of America - America is the continent.

Oh, Great Britain. I stand corrected on that part. Glad you're great. I like America's name just like it is, plain old simple America not Great America. Or Great United America, which would be an accurate descriptor, yet unnecessary.

[Aetherous]

22 minutes ago, thelerner said:

if we'd lost the war of independence, we'd be..

Canada.. which forgive me, doesn't sound so bad.

 

I'm not sure that Canada would be what it is today without the US.

[thelerner]

1 minute ago, Aetherous said:

 

I'm not sure that Canada would be what it is today without the US.

maybe not, how do you think it might be different? 

[Aetherous]

34 minutes ago, Apech said:

Your country is the United States of America - America is the continent.

 

That's a common misunderstanding. It's actually both the continent and the nation itself.

[Aetherous]

Just now, thelerner said:

maybe not, how do you think it might be different? 

 

I'm not at all a historian...I just think how the Western world looks today is largely a result of US Independence (which was a result of many other movements), and that things may have turned out a whole lot differently without it having happened.

I know that my statement could be viewed as a kind of patriotic hubris...but I think it's true nonetheless.

[joeblast]

what is the geographical USA would have been at least 4 different countries, if the wealthy who the articles of confederation werent good enough for, hadnt convinced history that people all around clamored for a more powerful federal government to bring the states together into a a more powerful entity.  "we" surely wouldnt have expanded all the way to the pacific, much less taken Alaska and hawaii.  the louisiana purchase probably wouldnt have happened as it had, Alaska would have remained russian territory for much longer - and who knows how "Canada" would have turned out, without the USA having gone all the way to the pacific.

[Marblehead]

1 hour ago, thelerner said:

only the bad and slow ones.

 

Hoping to get up to Stratford to brush up my Shakespeare.  

See the Tempest and Rocky Horror Picture show. 

https://www.stratfordfestival.ca/

I spent a little time in the East as well as the West parts of Canada.  Beautiful country.  I did enjoy Vancouver.  Went up there a few times when I was stationed at Ft Lewis, WA