“The forefathers had total faith in two things: ‘freedom’ and ‘people are jerks.'”

Cracked.com explains why “America is Still Awesome”, and reminds us all of something vital:

The Founders did indeed believe that “people are jerks”, hence the Electoral College, etc.

But they REALLY believed it just before they died, when one by one, it dawned on them all that, hey, not all their fellow Americans turned out to be, well, Jefferson, Washington and Franklin and/or even an Adams.

Almost all died leaving behind letters and diaries saying basically, “Wow, everybody else in this place is a stupid, greedy and self-centered hick, instead of being disinterested, noble, educated and principled guys like us. Uh oh.” 

The Founders were a unique generation, direct by God whether they believed in Him or not. This is not an unusual situation: read Exodus, for one thing.

Anyway, this is a pretty neat piece. You’d be surprised at what shows up at Cracked. Seriously, does your newspaper print stuff like this? No…

I am John DeVore and you are not. I am a right wing pinko, a militant centrist, a control freak anarchist. I believe in gun rights and gay rights. I want gays to experience the joys of divorce, and I want them to be well armed. I am a Texan, which means I’m the American equivalent of a Klingon. But I live in Queens, New York, one of the most ethnically diverse places on Earth. My local dive bar is the United Nations. I’m a half-Mexican/half-redneck, who was raised both a Catholic and a Baptist. How many countries does that happen in? It happens here like … all the time. I’m not even the weirdest multicultural mutt out there – we elected one for president.

I have dreams, and I work my ass off stumbling in the general direction of those dreams. And all I ask is this: If I tell you to get off my lawn, get off my lawn. If I don’t tell you to get off my lawn, come on in! Let’s drink beer and play Xbox.