Foreign Opinion & the US Constitution

[Heracles 417]

Devils advocate.

How ####### the roads and infrastructure is. The number of ghettos and run down areas there are considering this is a first world nation. That being busy does not mean you are successful or are living the dream. Number of degrees or attending an ivy league school does not equal intelligence or success. That the country is not envied by the millions of people who live in other 1st world nations. Constitution is far from admired abroad.

Edited March 24, 2008 by Boo-Yah!

[Marilyn. 340]

Devils advocate.

How ####### the roads and infrastructure is. The number of ghettos and run down areas there are considering this is a first world nation. That being busy does not mean you are successful or are living the dream. Number of degrees or attending an ivy league school does not equal intelligence or success. That the country is not envied by the millions of people who live in other 1st world nations. Constitution is far from admired abroad.

umm, this thread is supposed to be about things we take for granted in the US... and here you go again bashing the US ...lol

[Heracles 417]

umm, this thread is supposed to be about things we take for granted in the US... and here you go again bashing the US ...lol

Yeah there are a lot of things better when compared to South American or other poverty stricken countries. It would be like someone going to a poor Indian village with $1,000 and thinking wow I am so rich. Yes rich when compared to the people living in the village but poor when compared to anyone else on the same playing field.

Edited March 24, 2008 by Boo-Yah!

[chri'stina 190]

Don't know if this was said yet, I didn't read every page, but reliable electricity. India might be getting better with it but they have(or at least had) tons of black outs. You never know when it is going to happen, it just happens. That only happens to me here in a big Tstorm or Hurricane.

umm, this thread is supposed to be about things we take for granted in the US... and here you go again bashing the US ...lol

Yeah there are a lot of things better when compared to South American or other poverty stricken countries. It would be like someone going to a poor Indian village with $1,000 and thinking wow I am so rich. Yes rich when compared to the people living in the village but poor when compared to anyone else on the same playing field.

IMO the point of this thread wasn't "is America the best?", but about things we take for granted. If you don't want to go along with it because you think your country is the best, then at least talk about luxuries we take for granted that are here and in your country that many in the world do not have.

[mawilson 2,133]

Devils advocate.

How ####### the roads and infrastructure is. The number of ghettos and run down areas there are considering this is a first world nation. That being busy does not mean you are successful or are living the dream. Number of degrees or attending an ivy league school does not equal intelligence or success. That the country is not envied by the millions of people who live in other 1st world nations. Constitution is far from admired abroad.

Uhm, yes, why would anyone admire the Constitution?

It's so much better to be "subjects" of a hereditary monarch, with not a single

inalienable right that cannot be taken away by a simple majority in parliament.

[GabiandVi 34]

Devils advocate.

How ####### the roads and infrastructure is. The number of ghettos and run down areas there are considering this is a first world nation. That being busy does not mean you are successful or are living the dream. Number of degrees or attending an ivy league school does not equal intelligence or success. That the country is not envied by the millions of people who live in other 1st world nations. Constitution is far from admired abroad.

If the Constitution is not admired abroad, why have so many countries based their own constitutions on it? If you want to talk about the ####### roads, etc., go for that, but you lose all credibility when you say the Constitution is "far from admired". I don't know where you get that from. Please explain. I've been living abroad for the last 12 years, working with people from all over the world, mostly from 1st world countries, though some from developing and 3rd world. While I hear a lot of anti-American rants and anti-American regrets, I have ALWAYS heard admiration for the Constitution of the US. I'm sincerely confused by that statement. This isn't an attack or a defensive response. I am sincerely confused. I've never heard this idea before that the US Constitution is thought to be substandard.

Again, please explain because I like to hear the other side before I decide if I'm right or wrong and I can see nothing wrong with the US Constitution. If you are referring to the 2nd ammendment in the bill of rights, I don't think that amounts to the US Constitution being "far from admired." What am I missing.

[Heracles 417]

If the Constitution is not admired abroad, why have so many countries based their own constitutions on it? If you want to talk about the ####### roads, etc., go for that, but you lose all credibility when you say the Constitution is "far from admired". I don't know where you get that from. Please explain. I've been living abroad for the last 12 years, working with people from all over the world, mostly from 1st world countries, though some from developing and 3rd world. While I hear a lot of anti-American rants and anti-American regrets, I have ALWAYS heard admiration for the Constitution of the US. I'm sincerely confused by that statement. This isn't an attack or a defensive response. I am sincerely confused. I've never heard this idea before that the US Constitution is thought to be substandard.

Again, please explain because I like to hear the other side before I decide if I'm right or wrong and I can see nothing wrong with the US Constitution. If you are referring to the 2nd ammendment in the bill of rights, I don't think that amounts to the US Constitution being "far from admired." What am I missing.

Where should I start. Maybe with the misinterpretation of the first amendment. Or the fixation certain people have with tearing religion out of the country. Or the number of rights criminals have and are protected by.

What does the constitution protect , the right to live in a ghetto the right to trash a nation, the right to do as one please irrespective of the negative consequences of their actions, the right to voice your opinion abroad and think that everyone else wants to hear it. Are we talking about the same constitution that people now take out of context and abuse it for their gain. The same people who hate the 2nd amendment but refuse to accept the context of the 1st amendment. How many thousand of criminals have been let off or not arrested because of their 'rights being violated' rather than the victim's right to be alive. In how many other countries can one sue for something as simple as spilling hot coffee on themselves or sue a caravan maker for not advising them that when someone activates the cruise control that does not mean the vehicle will drive itself. Or a constitution that allows someone to jump a border and simply give birth to a child in the country and then claim citizenship. The list goes on and I could actually be here all day.

Based on and used are two different things. The other thing is, how many people from other 1st world countries are actually migrating to the US. If it wasn't for my wife I would not have migrated here. If it wasn't for the various stages of the visa that would have to be repeated if we left, we would have already moved back to Aus.

Edited March 25, 2008 by Boo-Yah!

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

Most people I meet abroad don't interpret the US constitution like you do.

[Heracles 417]

Most people I meet abroad don't interpret the US constitution like you do.

It's funny you say that because the day I got my visa in Sydney I had lunch with some guys from the UK and they where giving me #### with regards to moving to the US.

Edited March 25, 2008 by Boo-Yah!

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

Most people I meet abroad don't interpret the US constitution like you do.

It's funny you say that because the day I got my visa in Sydney I had lunch with some guys from the UK and they where giving me #### with regards to moving to the US.

Really and what does that have to do with their views on the constitution? I read more trashing of this country and its people in your posts than 1,678 hours of Reverend Wright sermons.

[Heracles 417]

Really and what does that have to do with their views on the constitution? I read more trashing of this country and its people in your posts than 1,678 hours of Reverend Wright sermons.

'Magic is over' for U.S., says French foreign minister.

I bet if we went to any international forum and asked them what they thought of the US constitution many would get a newsflash.

PS Funny you mention Wright. He is a good example of why the constitution has failed.

Edited March 25, 2008 by Boo-Yah!

[one...two...tree 2,762]

For what it's worth...

Iroquois Constitution Influenced That of U.S., Historians Say

By Kathryn McConnell

Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- Benjamin Franklin, one of the original architects of the United States government, introduced as a model for the country's framework document the constitution of the Iroquois Nation, according to a Smithsonian Institution specialist of American Indian history.

The Iroquois, a North American Indian confederacy of several tribes, allied with some of the first European settlers of what later became the United States.

The Iroquois' detailed constitution -- called the Great Law of Peace -- guaranteed freedom of religion and expression and other rights later embraced in the U.S. Constitution, said Jaime Hill, co-editor of "American Indian," a new Smithsonian magazine about the past, present and future of indigenous peoples from throughout the Western Hemisphere.

Hill and co-editor Millie Knapp participated in a live call-in radio broadcast from Washington September 22 during the First Americans Festival. The September 21-27 event is a major part of events in Washington surrounding the September 21 opening of the Smithsonian's newest museum and the first tribute to American Indians in Washington.

The National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) is an important recognition of "the first citizens of the Americas," said W. Richard West, the museum's director at the NMAI opening.

On the radio program "Native America Calling" Hill said the Iroquois document also presented to framers of the U.S. Constitution the concept of a two-house legislature and a combined government structure of state jurisdictions and a national government.

According to the Iroquois constitution, states were first to solve disputes between them on their own. If resolution efforts failed then the national government would take authority, Hill said.

The Iroquois place the creation of their constitution, which was recorded on belts, at between 1000 and 1400 A.D., according to the Smithsonian magazine. The Great Law said the national government should have a commander-in-chief and that person should present a "state of the union" address to the nation, Hill said.

The Iroquois' also said that when a legislator was presenting an issue to the governing chamber, others should be quiet, a practice adopted by Congress that contrasts with protocol in the British parliament, Hill said.

Franklin, then Pennsylvania's official printer, became familiar with the Iroquois political system by printing minutes of their meetings, according to the magazine.

"He recognized that the Iroquois constitution contained many features absent in other governments at the time," including the concept that "elected officials were never masters but remained servants of their constituencies," the magazine states.

However, the Iroquois constitution differed from the later U.S. document in one important way -- it specifically mentioned women, said Knapp. Many Indian nations were matriarchal with women nominating legislators, she added.

http://usinfo.state.gov/scv/Archive/2005/May/17-246412.html

[Marilyn. 340]

ummm could we please keep this topic on track.. this isn't supposed to be a US bashing thread... go make your own thread if you want to bash the US...

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Most people I meet abroad don't interpret the US constitution like you do.

Indeed. I'd hasten to add to that whenever you hear "foreigners" going off on anti-american rants the Constitution isn't exactly top of their list of criticisms.

From a political science POV the constitution is admired in as much the same way as the old German Weimar constitution used to be.

[Empress of Groovy 373]

Most people I meet abroad don't interpret the US constitution like you do.

It's funny you say that because the day I got my visa in Sydney I had lunch with some guys from the UK and they where giving me #### with regards to moving to the US.

How impressive that you defied them and moved here anyway.