Admiring the Independent American Spirit

I ADMIRE THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. When I say the "United States", I do not mean the U.S. government. There is really very little about the United States government that I admire - certainly not in the present, and certainly not in recent years, and for the most part, not in the entire history of the United States - but there is much that I admire in the United States. I admire the American spirit of independence of action and thought, which has allowed so many Americans to protest against policies they disagreed with. Albert Einstein, who lived the last part of his life in the U.S., admired the optimistic sense of personal empowerment manifest in the attitudes of Americans. The American people are independent by nature. And the American people are not afraid, have never been afraid, to raise their voice in protest of what they considered to be injustice. When George Washington was president, farmers in New York rioted against the new "whiskey tax" to pay for the war of independence. All thorugh American pre civil war southern history slaves rose up and tried to protest and rebel against their masters. These slave revolts are not covered in depth in most history books. During the Civil War, Irish workers in New York City protested the draft, which was drafgin far more poor people than wealrhy people. Many solidiers deserted during the civil war, and really, during all of America's wars, because there are always people who consider war under any circumstances unnaceptable. We have seen that most recently in Iran and Afghanistan. Soliders participatin in war, then coming home, very much opposed to the war in which they participated. You learn much in war. All this resistence to war is part of the American spirit of independence.