But if I had to give a definition of "The American Way," I would say that it is the idea that no person is inherently superior to any other, and that people should be able to live in freedom to the extent that their doing so does not abridge the freedom of others or cause grievous harm to others. As our Declaration of Independence puts it, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
You know that this is a contradiction in itself? Because, if no person is inherently superior to any other, why is it that only "all men" were created equal? And, yes, the declaration of independence was written at a time when that sentence more or less meant "all Caucasian males ware created equal", for both women and people of other ethnic backgrounds were treated as something less than them. For women's suffrage was only made official part of the law in the US with the 19th Amendment, which was passed in 1920. And segregation was only ended (officially) in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but de facto is still very much in use, as the case of Treyvon Martin shows all too obviously.
As an aside, as happy as I am to see a "black" US president, I'm still waiting for a Mrs. President to be elected.
