While 250 years may be young in comparison to some European countries, we must remember that most of those countries are smaller than several of our states. Also, their history is one REALLY built on bigotry and class division, and the use of work permits and language restrictions as a system to keep your neighbors on their side of the border has been the norm forever, and is now just ending wilth the European Union.

The irony is that EU today is politically and economically what the USA was like in 1780. Give then two more generations and their world will not in any way resemble the last century. When I worked for the Swiss (just when EU started to roll) I used to tell a riddle that went: BACKGROUND: Under EU and the ability to work in any EU state, a Portuguese engineer and a Brit engineer get jobs in a German shipyard. The Portuguese's son and the Brit's daughter fall in love and marry. The two of them move to Rome for work. While there, they have two children of their own. QUESTION: What is the nationality of the children? ANSWER: European!

So, say what you want to about America being "young," the reality is America has set the standard for the world politically and socially - and the rest of world is working to catch up to us....