Yes! Thank you! The US was based on self-invention as a national identity, rather than national/religious/ethnic forebears - unlike any other country ever. Self-invention and self-government are the true "American exceptionalism" - which the GOP is intent on destroying.

Eh, kind of. The original European settlers were a mix of people fleeing religious persecution and religious extremists. This has made a very strange mix of generational culture/trauma. www.reddit.com/r/AskHistori...