I'd like to get one thing straight to the foreign visitors...

and MANY of my fellow Americans:
The United States of America is NOT, never was, and was NEVER designed to be a DEMOCRACY.
It's a federation of states and is defined as a "representative republic".
PERIOD.
So please, stop calling us a democracy, technically we are NOT.
That's by design, by the wishes and WISDOM of our great fore-fathers and founders.
They spent years, lives and a lot of BLOOD planning this thing out and building in safeguards.

Got it?! We are not a democracy - we ARE a representative republic and a federation of independent states.

THE SOLE PURPOSE OF GOVERNMENT is to protect its citizens. This means from PHYSICAL HARM, not from lack of job, lack of home, etc. But from physical harm.
This goes back to the teachings of JESUS.
In fact, defense of country and people has been SO critical and important over the centuries that's it's known in many places as a MINISTRY. (as in "ministry of defense")

You are NOT guaranteed the right to not be OFFENDED. If you do not like to look at something, don't look, or close your eyes, look at something else, look at yourself in the mirror if you believe you are so great that your rights to not see something trump MY rights to see and enjoy it.
If you don't want to hear "Merry Christmas" then close your ears, turn off your hearing aid. Your right to NOT hear it does not trump my right to SAY IT or hear it (free speech is intact at least until Obama is inaugurated) If you don't want a cheerful, happy, 'thankful to the Lord' store clerk wish you a Merry Christmas, then shop elsewhere. That is your right, wishing me a happy Christ's birthday on the day we celebrate as the birth of an important historical figure is their right.

You are guaranteed the right to seek happiness and security, you are not guaranteed that you WILL attain it. THAT, friend, is up to YOU and how hard YOU work to get there. You are given the opportunity to attain life, liberty and pursue happiness, not the rights to HAVE it on the backs of others.
Happiness comes from within, it's what YOU make of life, it's not what others GIVE to you. If I wish to help you in your time of need, that's MY choice, and I do it freely because I care - yes, I care about YOU, not because someone forces me to, or I feel threatened by the government if I do not. That also is a teaching of Jesus.
Now for our Jewish friends here, I know you are not offended because you do believe that there was a man named Jesus who did indeed live. And if you do not believe what Christians believe, you gotta at least admit, He was one smart cookie! He knew law, human nature, and right from wrong. (I receive a Christmas card from a friend in Florida every December, he's Jewish and works as a photographer for a major Jewish publication. Now why can't ALL religions get along like that?? He respects me, I respect him, and we are BOTH BETTER for it.)

Thanks for listening, sorry for the rant!