{"id":22840,"date":"2016-07-04T12:35:08","date_gmt":"2016-07-04T19:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=22840"},"modified":"2016-07-04T12:35:08","modified_gmt":"2016-07-04T19:35:08","slug":"open-thread-742016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/04\/open-thread-742016\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread – 7\/4\/2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s a good thing I slept well on Saturday and Sunday nights, because I know I won’t tonight.  The main fireworks display is only seven blocks from me.  I hope you are all having a happy and safe weekend.<\/font><\/p>\n

Jig Zone Puzzle<\/strong>:<\/font><\/p>\n

Today’s took me 5:10 (average 6:11).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

Short Takes<\/strong>:<\/font><\/p>\n

From Daily Kos<\/a> (classic 7\/2014): <\/font>1. Conservatives opposed the Founding Fathers, the American Revolution and a lot of other righteous stuff as well.<\/strong> <\/p>\n

By definition a conservative is one who wishes to preserve and\/or restore traditional values and institutions, i.e. to \u201cconserve\u201d the established order. No surprise then that 18th century American conservatives wanted no part of breaking away from the British Empire and the comforting bonds of monarchical government. Those anti-revolutionary conservatives were called Tories, the name still used for the conservative party in England. The Founding Fathers? As radically left-wing as they came in the 1770s. The Boston Tea Party? The "Occupy Wall Street" of its day.<\/p>\n

Some of the other "traditional" values supported by conservatives over the course of American history have included slavery (remember that the Republican Party was on the liberal fringe in 1860), religious persecution, the subjugation of women and minorities, obstacles to immigration, voter suppression, prohibition and segregation.  Conservatives started off on the wrong side of American history, and that’s where they’ve been ever since.<\/p>\n

2. The United States is not a Christian nation, and the Bible is not the cornerstone of our law.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t take my word for it. Let these Founding Fathers speak for themselves:<\/p>\n

John Adams<\/strong>: \u201cThe government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion.\u201d (Treaty of Tripoli, 1797)<\/p>\n

Thomas Jefferson<\/strong>: \u201cChristianity neither is, nor ever was, a part of the common law.\u201d (Letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper, February 10, 1814)<\/p>\n

James Madison<\/strong>: \u201cThe civil government \u2026 functions with complete success \u2026 by the total separation of the Church from the State.\u201d (Writings, 8:432, 1819)<\/p>\n

George Washington<\/strong>: \u201cIf I could conceive that the general government might ever be so administered as to render the liberty of conscience insecure, I beg you will be persuaded, that no one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny, and every species of religious persecution.\u201d (Letter to the United Baptist Chamber of Virginia, May 1789)<\/p>\n

You can find a multitude of similar quotes from these men and most others who signed the Declaration of Independence and\/or formulated the United States Constitution. These are hardly the words of men who believed that America should be a Christian nation governed by the Bible, as a disturbing fundamentalist trend today would have it be.<\/p>\n

These are just the first two of thirteen listed facts about America that Republicans wish you would forget. Click Through for the other eleven.<\/font><\/p>\n

From Crooks and Liars<\/a>: <\/font>In this web exclusive, John Oliver lets us know just what we’re missing by declaring independence from Britain.<\/p>\n