Waffler, you got it...our founding fathers were a result of the Age of Enlightenment, a unique blend of people who believed in being extremely educated and well read, believed in God, separation of church and state, and pragmatism, (common sense). We need more of this today... Patrick Henry was using a biblical allusion but also tipping his hat to Hobbes, Locke, and Berkeley. We really could use less reactionism and more pragmatism. If you have read your history, you'll see that "bad times", have always lead to racism, intolerance, and persecution. The Plague, Salem Witch Trials, etc. Blaming someone always makes us feel better, but does nothing to solve the problem. It's ironic, the very people who have labeled Obama a socialist, (and actually made the absurd leap to Hitler's Nazi Socialist Party), should take note that Hitler was feeding an anti-semetic frenzy that had grown out of really bad economic times. Hitler was an opportunist, much like, and I know this may seem harsh, the Tea Party movement. Even more ironic, this is the second time the United States' economic irresponsibility has affected Germany/Europe, so "the present death throws of the socialist experiment in Europe" is actually a result of unchecked and wild free-market capitalism. Wow, do I sound like a communist or what. I'm not, all I'm saying is we need to think more, than hate more. The British were a real threat to freedom and democracy, as long as we can vote Obama out, he does not present some crazy threat. Just a guy that is trying his absolute best to get us out of crap storm that W. got us into. Sadly, as a country, we can't remember anything that happened in the past. I blame it on televised media and the death of investigative journalism. Ok, off my soapbox.