It's Un-American to Pledge Allegiance to the Flag

You can't believe all you read online

(NEWSER) - Between the current interest in America’s founders and a “willingness to believe” the Internet, political misquotes are flying these days, writes David A. Fahrenthold in the Washington Post . A look over the past two years of C-SPAN and the Congressional Record shows that politicians—including congressmen, senators, and the president—have wrongly quoted the founding fathers at least 30 times. More»

Washington, Hamilton would have hated you

(NEWSER) - The Tea Party loves to claim solidarity with the founding fathers, as though they’d all endorse the current Republican agenda. (Remember this craziness ?) Well, not so fast, says historian Ron Chernow. “The truth is that the disputatious founders—who were revolutionaries, not choir boys—seldom agreed about anything,” he writes in the New York Times . These weren’t “genteel sages,” and they presided over an era “rife with vitriolic polemics and partisan backbiting.” More»

Founding Fathers may have liked ObamaCare: Einer Elhauge

(NEWSER) - Health insurance mandates—unconstitutional? That's what the opponents of ObamaCare are arguing , "but there’s a major problem with this line of argument: It just isn’t true," writes Einer Elhuage in The New Republic . In fact, the founding fathers passed more than one mandate in Congress in the 1790s. To wit:

• The first Congress (including 20 framers) passed a law mandating that ship owners buy medical insurance for seamen. President George Washington signed it into law. "That's right, the father of our country," writes Elhauge.

Portia Simpson Miller calls history 'wicked and brutal'

(NEWSER) - Jamaica Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller didn't mince words when asked yesterday about her country's history with Britain—just as Prince Harry arrived in the country for a visit. "No race should have been subjected to what our ancestors were subjected to," Miller said, according to the Telegraph . "It was wicked and brutal. … If Britain wishes to apologize, fine with us." More»

At Philadelphia debate, British team makes the case against nationhood

(NEWSER) - Teams of British and American lawyers clashed in Philadelphia on Tuesday over the legitimacy of the United States of America. At the debate, sponsored by legal associations from both countries, lawyers for the former colonial power argued that America's Declaration of Independence in 1776 "was not only illegal, but actually treasonable," the BBC reports. "What if Texas decided today it wanted to secede from the Union?" they asked, deciding that the Americans had no legal grounds for secession. "Lincoln made the case against secession and he was right." More»