Discovery Channel viewers have picked a shortlist of the five greatest Americans of all time. It’s one of those memes that starts on the BBC or the CBC and spreads to US television, like _The Weakest Link_ or those LiveJournal “If you were a bodily fluid, which one would you be?” exercises. This particular soap opera is sponsored by Tide.
The top five does not include Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Edison, Frankln D. Roosevelt, Albert Einstein, or Mark Twain.
It does, however, include Ronald Reagan.
Dervala.com 
God help us…I’m thinking of Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, Martin Luther King, Susan B. Anthony…
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To be fair, MLK did make the cut. So did Benjamin Franklin, Lincoln, and Washington.
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Does Albert Einstein really count as an American ? He was German (born Ulm, 1879). Became an American citizen in 1940
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Bob, I’d argue that the quintessential American is an immigrant, particularly one who wouldn’t have been welcome at home. Choice trumps birth. 🙂
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i would have put ronald mc donald at the top of my list – chicken mc nuggets – yummmy 🙂
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And why not Reagan? What better representative of that “Persistent Vegetative State” our current leaders value so much?
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Reagan has to be in the mix because he gave America a Presidential dimension of a “senior moment”.
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Dervala, upon mature reflection, I’d agree with you. If only Ireland thought the same of the ‘Éireannach Nua’ citizens.
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Well, come on, after all this is America. What did you expect? 🙂
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Ronald Reagan, Ronald MacDonald….
potayto – potahto……
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How about a non-immigrant american….Chief Joseph for example….or Sacajaweja (sp?).
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Hmmm…I could have sworn there were more recent entries here.
Anyway, I hope you get over things soon. Take care.
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