Lest I get company again

But also because I feel a rant coming on. I'm going to try not to actually, like rant, but I make no promises.

What's with all this stuff lately about "traditional American values"? Have you noticed that nobody using that phrase ever actually lists those values? Those same people who throw the phrase around are usually implying that somebody else doesn't have "traditional American values," but they never actually say what those values are. It's like that odious cliche where the husband asks the wife what's wrong and she replies, "Well if you don't know, I'm certainly not going to tell you!" which makes women sound like silly twits. It's offensive. And so is throwing that *&^%* phrase around.

I tell you what "traditional American values" are: freedom of speech. I am not only allowed to disagree with you, it is an inalienable right guaranteed to me under the U.S. Constitution.

And here's another "traditional American value" guaranteed under the Constitution: Freedom of religion. Not just freedom of your beliefs, but the freedom for anyone to practice any belief system they choose.

The U.S. Constitution is much more than the basis of our laws. The Constitution defines what being an American is. Those are our values. The founding fathers put it in writing. It's been the defining document of our government for over 200 years. That's pretty damned traditional.

So it seems to me that anyone who wants to put limitations on those rights, anyone who wants to re-write the Constitution because they don't happen to like those bits, those are the people who are going against "traditional American values."

And if they don't understand that, then maybe they're the ones who aren't "real Americans."