Throughout the Health Care reform debate, we kept on hearing the opposition stating that the United States did not wish to copy “Europeans”, as if everything they have done and everything they represent is, somehow, inherently evil!
This is evidence of the total ignorance of those who profess this,of those Americans who argue that America is superior in every way to the “old world” from which the majority of Americans have their ancestry, and that we cannot learn anything positive from those nations that are the heritage of a majority of our citizens!
This narrow mindedness demonstrates the need for our education system to teach about the European roots of America, as this has been downgraded in the curriculum of our public schools, and even in our universities!
Waving the American flag and claiming somehow that we are “better” than European nations is the root of much of our shortcomings as a society. Should we not honor the effect of the Greeks and the Romans; of the French Revolution; of the English Civil War and Glorious Revolution in Great Britain; of the contributions of people from all over Europe who have had an impact on our growth and success; of the philosophers who helped to bring about the rationale for our American Revolution; of the many ideas and concepts that have advanced our nation because of their setting an example for us?
Cannot we learn from “our parents”? Of course we can, and that includes the struggle over considering the effects of European law on our Supreme Court, where the battle rages over whether or not our highest court should consider foreign law in making decisions that affect our future as a nation!
Instead of condemning “foreign influences”, we should embrace them as a way to improve and promote “a more perfect Union”! The Founding Fathers certainly appreciated that concept!