"4. We finally got around to liberating the slaves."

This is a fairly good example of the kind of "liberal-speak" to which I believe the writers of one of the linked articles referred.

It has become such a mark of the American left to woller in self-loathing -- in America-loathing -- that cannot even acknowledge, without the qualifiers (like "finally"), A goodness about America.

That "finally" happened well within the first hundred years of our existance. And we now have more history after that "finally" then we do before that "finally" -- almost 3/4 of a century more. In fact, 2/3 of our existance as a nation has been slavery free.

That "finally" ended an institution that we did not, as a nation, begin. Furthermore, on the world scene, we were cutting edge in ridding ourselves of that awful pestilence.

I don't find any need, when proudly pointing out that the US liberated slaves, to qualify it with "finally".

The American left does -- and it is not a winsome need.