The Boston tea party was based on honesty and integrety? You need to study history a little more closely.

Jack is right. Bush&Cheney's Amerika is too busy killing for oil in Iraq to apply our old principles to, say, stopping the genocide in Darfur happening right under noses. I used to wonder why the world didn't care while Nazis persecuted Jews in the 1930s. Now I understand. Too busy with our own selfish lives.

The thesis of this letter is not clear at all. What is motivating Mr. Palmer to write this letter? What does he mean that we should stop pursuing self-interest and start fulfilling obligations? If I wanted to, I could assume that he's a socialist who believes that nothing should be owned by individuals, that we are obligated to serve the state more than ourselves. This letter is full of high-sounding phrases, but the meaning behind them is anybody's guess.

"Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts." Malachi 3:7

Americans wasteful, and now they have to pay for it. Our nation has struggled with foreign oil for years and you insisted on buying cars bigger than you need, and now you are paying for it. Hope it teaches you a lesson.

Over the years several studies have come out that refute this letter to the editor.

Two that are most striking. Americans work more hours per week and year than people from most other countries around the world. If I remember correctly, they worked the most hours per week out of all industrialized nations.

The other is that fact that American citizens, and then again through our government, give more in charity to others than almost any other people on the earth. I remember one year the United States Marine Corp gave out more charity via food, shelter, clothing and medical than every individual European nation.

I don't have those sources at my fingertips but with enough research one will find consistent data to back this up.

Americans may play hard, seek luxury and comfort, though we are also an incredibly industrious and generous people. We are still a beacon of hope to hundreds of millions, possibly billions around the world.

"Americans may play hard, seek luxury and comfort, though we are also an incredibly industrious and generous people. We are still a beacon of hope to hundreds of millions, possibly billions around the world".

Americans would be better off if we worked less and took time to enjoy life more and smell the roses. Of course we wouldn't have money then for wars that weren't well thought out. Or have money to pay millions to execs that run companies into the ground.

We ignore issues that don't give us gratification. Darfur. Rwanda. Nazism. The only time we step in is when it benefits our own selfish interests. Otherwise, we could care less about humanity. We have stepped so far away from the principles our country was founded on, I believe our founding fathers are shocked and saddened to see what America and her ideals have become.

I don't know where you guys get your ideas. Americans have and continue to contribute more to poverty not only in our country but all over the world. Name one country that gives more than the U.S. both in money and time and manpower. We live in the greatest country on Earth. Because we also pursue things for ourselves does not make us selfish. Where is the criticism of the despots all over the World that confiscate the food and clothing we send to help out those in need. The newspapers report almost 100,000 dead in the cyclone damage in this last disaster and yet the government confiscates all of the food and clothing sent under the idea that "they can better distributer the goods" I'll bet those goods wind up on the black market and the money goes to fund sum selfish S.O.B's next mansion. And you call us selfish. It's time you U.S. bashers get your heads out of the sand and look at the truth. We are the greatest most generous nation on earth. I for one am proud to be an American and what I have achieved with my freedom.

I love it when conservatives point out how generous Americans are. Yeah, we throw gobs of money at problems, while continuing to drive our Escalades and live in our McMansions. A charitable heart not only includes giving, but living charitably, too.

Yes, you're right - we do contribute more than any other country. However, when we ignore 800,000 deaths in Rwanda, refuse to acknowledge the word "genocide" because it would have obligated us to do something more than stand by and hope the Hutus didn't kill *all* the Tutsis... when we watch from afar as people starve in Darfur and other countries and even refuse to insure our own children when their parents are poverty stricken, then perhaps

Just perhaps

Our priorites are skewed.

How are we better, then, than the despots who take the aid meant for the victims in Myanmar? How can we seriously think we're better?

The comments so far are proving my point. You can take this letter to justify about any point of view you want. Somebody tell me what the writer had in mind, please. Is he telling us to send our sons and daughters to Iraq? Is he saying we speculate too much in the stock market? Is he admonishing us to sell all we have and to make a vow to poverty and live like monks? What is he saying?

To oh please:

Yes, this has all just happened under Bush and Cheney. Forget that Clinton sent the military off to die to take media pressure off of his AFFAIRS. You found out I slept around? Uh-oh, better send troops somewhere so the media will leave me alone.

The presidency has been for sale, as has everything in america, since the very beginning. We like to pretend that those we revere from days gone by are all noble, but even Lincoln had a vested interest in prursuing the civil war. That war was not about slavery, it was about forcing control of the bigger governement on people who thought differently (sounds a lot like why we ran away from england to begin with, huh)?

The partisan rhetoric is beyond getting old. Pull your heads out of the sand and recognize that EVERYONE is equally corruptable. The Clintons have made over $100 million since Bill left office. You telling me they did that with not one cent coming from big business, or even from *gasp* big oil? Please, how naive can everyone be.

Darfur, Rwanda, Somalia, North Korea, etc, etc, etc.

So murders are taking place around the world. Do we ever get credit for the great things we do? When the Christmas tsunami hit Indonesia, one of the largest Muslim nations in the world, we handed out billions and billions of aide. In fact, Bush I and Clinton joined together to raise money to help.

So America is only good if we are perfect? Is that your premise? And do you understand the concept of America? Besides the policies of both Republican and Democrat administrations what about all of the 501(c)(3)'s that do so much good? Red cross, eye-glasses for kids, doctors that go overseas and perform surgeries, food drives, etc. One old man in Utah witnesses children walking in snow covered roads and organized a drive to donate blankets, coats and socks. He raised over 50 pallets of donations and the Utah Air National Guard took them overseas.

So, America is evil; America is horrible; America is the worst country in the world? And you hate America so much you cannot even see the forrest through the trees.

America is not perfect, yet we are still a great nation!

No, I don't hate America. I love her. I fear for her - that the balance is tipping from being better than bad to being worse than good.

Charitable organizations, as you mentioned, have done tremendous good. My premise is that our government would rather wring it's hands when we have confirmed evidence of genocidal actions than to act to save lives.

I'm not talking about natural disasters. Those are easy to stand up and help with. With the Rwanda and Darfur genocides, however, it's people killing people - trying to wipe out a nation or a culture or an ethnic people.

Why can't we act to save lives when it's *preventable*? That's my question to you.

of America. You will never change the hearts and minds of the "blame America first" crowd. They get too much self satisfaction out of trashing the good in this country. They remind me of something my mother used to say, "the small minded person and the narrow necked bottle, the less they have in side the more noise they make when pouring it out." I say give it up and just continue to go about doing the things that make this country great. It will help the world and drive the blame crown nuts.

@To all you defenders: what are you talking about? Who is a "defender of America" and who isn't? Did it ever occur to you that some of us believe that America has been hi-jacked by anti-Americans in the White House and congress, and those are the people who hate what America stands for? Which America are you defending?

To GeeBee: So if I understand what you are saying, if I work hard, give of my time and money to those less fortunate, I can't live in a nice house because that negates other things I do? Oh sorry, i drive a Chrysler minivan and not an Escalade but the point is the same. I know a wonderful couple who are very well off- they earned it themselves by the way. To look at them, no one would ever know the thousands and thousands of dollars each year that they donate to charity, and the time and effort they put into helping those less fortunate. But because they live in a big house and drive a Lexus, that makes all the good they do worthless in your view? We need to wear sackcloth and ashes in order for any contribution to be valid? Sounds like a very bitter wannabe to me!

The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.
- John Kenneth Galbraith

The rise and fall of the neocon movement is this country proves Galbraith to be correct.

was a liberal. He is required to say those things. That doesn't make them true. The economic doctrine of the left is based upon envy, greed, elitisim and there is no god but government. That has failed everytime it has been used.

As for stopping all of the smaller genocides around the world, it would seem apparent that it is not always that easy.

Rwanda was one of the quickest massacres in the history of the world, done primarily with machetes and small arms. If Hitler had killed at the rate Rwanda happened it would have been over 100 million+ killed in concentration camps, not 11 million or so.

Darfur is not that easy either. It is a civil war. Are you advocating that we send Americans to every civil war around the world? There are likely over a dozen right now. Is that not what the UN is for? Which, by the way, the US is the largest donor there as well.

One factor of Darfur is the Chinese, which are strongly supporting the other side. Do we want to get into an active shooting war with the Chinese? Not such an easy thing to handle from a Government point of view. So in steps the other America. I don't have the numbers but I would bet large amounts of money that American citizens have donated more money, goods, etc to Darfur than the rest of the world combined!

Paul, the hotel manager who harbored many of his countrymen to save them from the massacre, both faxed and phoned the U.S. Government pleading for help. How much charity money could have saved those people?

You say it was a quick genocide - a small genocide (by historical standards, I guess is what you mean). The warning signs have been there for decades, at least since 1959-1961. We (that is the U.S. Government had plenty of time, money and resources to intervene. Why do we intervene in Iraq & Kuwait but not Darfur or Rwanda? Could it just possibly be that they were not a financial interest to us? Are we placing the lives of oil-rich Iraqis and Kuwaitis above poor black people who cannot defend themselves against their aggressors?

Should we intervene in every civil war? I don't know the answer to that. But it seems to me that a human life in Rwanda is equally worthy of saving as that of any other nation we've selected to grace with intervention.

I also agree with you that the U.N. is culpable. But is that any excuse for the richest, mightiest superpower nation?

If we went and interfered in these other countries, it would just give someone else the excuse to complain about us sending our military into someone elses business.

You can't win. No matter which way the government turns there will be those who complain. Right now it is Bush/Cheney the evil ones. Before that it was Clinton/Gore the evil ones.

Why don't we spend less time complaining and more time coming up with solutions. If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem

Many of us have listed our solutions. Did you read the posts?