Musick, I think that both you and Keiva miss some contextual relevance. In Keiva's quotation, he omits the fact that "men" meant only white males at the time. In your case, you assume that all of the slave owners who established this country were guilt-ridden. Jefferson did question it's propriety, as did a few others, but not all. Even Ulysses S. Grant married into a slave-owning family, and owned a personal slave for a while.

I agree that egalitarianism is not a reality, and certain "politically correct" types make a mockery of earnest attempts toward greater equality of opportunity and legal protection, but look at the progress we've made. Black people are no longer 3/5ths human, women have been found to be people (DAMN! what a concept!) and freedom of speech has been tried and upheld repeatedly for even the most odious of speech.

As for the egalitarianism of this board, can you not agree that nearly all participants are pretty bright and learned in one or another field? That is not elitism, but simple self-selection, IMHO.

While I may disagree with Snoot's intentions, I do appreciate his cleverness. There is wit in his posts.