Support for the US Constitution and the Founding Fathers

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I'm not an American, I have never visited the United States, and I'm not particularly familiar with its culture and institutions.

The impression I have of the US is that it is a country built on a bedrock of a form of civic nationalism, much of which has its origin in the ideologies of the Founding Fathers back in the 18th century and in the US Constitution. Today these are popularly known as American values and are regarded by most Americans as sacrosanct. Any attempt to oppose them, or even question them for that matter, is regarded as extremely anti-American. This is despite the fact that some of these ideologies are no longer practical, outdated, or inferior to other ways of doing things when looked at from a rational or intuitive perspective. The consequence of this is that it is difficult to be yourself in the US and the nation is stuck in a rut over certain issues where more progressive types who want to break with the past end up being seen as heretics or enemies of the state by a high proportion of the public who slavishly follow the Constitution and ideologies of the Founding Fathers?

What do you make of this? Are Americans with AS more likely to question the so called American values and look further afield than the NT masses are?

I see and understand both "movements", if you will. The Tea Party, proponents of the 2nd Amendment, maybe even some militia groups want the country to go back to the basic way of life of the 1780's log cabin dweller. That's absolutely fine. Whereas you can't possibly take the entire country down that path with you, you are always free to visit an Amish community and join them. The East-Central Ohio Amish community is 29,000 and growing. I can't see too many aspies joining, though, considering the relatively high amount of atheists there are. As a matter of fact, some aspies even believe we're a more "progressive" or advanced race of humans, if you will. Can you imagine an aspie without his computer in the middle of Lancaster, PA tending to sheep and making furniture all day? It would drive him crazy. Aspies thrive on electricity. Shoot. Some might claim we probably invented it.

(Thread moved from Autism politics to PPR)

On the contrary! I think things like separation of church and state, the need for search warrants, the right to a speedy and fair trial, etc. are good ideas and it would be nice if they were actually put into practice consistently. Of course, you'll only ever hear about the second amendment from people who talk about the constitution, and only a certain interpretation of it even then.

I disagree with with the premise. The people you are refering too are the so called "Ameericuns"(its how the countries name usually is pronounced in midwestern dialect)s. the sterotypical America that the rest of the world sees.I live on the east coast and its full of progressives those that arn't progresive are usually moderates.The" "Ameericuns" are usually found in the middle of the country in what they call "real america" which is ridiculous. They do not respresent the majority,They respresent about a quarter of the population at most.

I have noticed that some Americans have a "Euthyphro dilemma" on their hands when it comes to the Founding Fathers. Is something a good idea simply because the Founding Fathers said so, or did the Founding Fathers come up with some good ideas because they were wise people?

The US constitution protects our natural rights and tells the federal government what powers it does have. It does not grant rights These rights are inalienable and endowed by our creator. They exist with or without the constitution.

It seems this concept is pretty hard to grasp for certain children that frequent this forum.