A Reminder: Rhode Island is the Best

Here is just a small sampling of reasons why Rhode Island is easily the best state in the country. Most of these points are ingrained in my mind as lore, and thus I am not bothering to fact check and assess the accuracy of my fervrent beliefs, lest I be disappointed. If you feel obliged to ensure that some of these points are factually accurate I would be happy to receive your comments, so long as they don't conflict with my deeply-rooted beliefs that I will now set forth...

• Rhode Island was the first state to rebel against England when a small group of Rhode Islanders belonging to the Sons of Liberty attacked, boarded, looted, and torched the British tax ship Gaspee in Narragansett Bay on June 9th, 1772.
  
• Ironically, Rhode Island was the last of the original 13 states to sign the Constitution, doing so only after the other 12 states threatened to tax Rhode Island as a foreign nation.
  
• The Industrial Revolution in America began with the construction of Slater Mill in Pawtucket, based on designs that Samuel Slater smuggled out of England.
  
• Rhode Islanders like drinking. The White Horse Tavern in Newport is the oldest tavern in the United States.
• Rhode Island never ratified the 18th Amendment establishing prohibition. I told you we like to drink.
  
• Roger Williams is credited with establishing the first practical and functioning democracy when he founded Rhode Island after being kicked out of Massachusetts for his seditious ideas about free speech and freedom of religion. The founding fathers credited much of the first amendment to his ideas.
• Rhode Island has a long history of waspy pursuits, including the first Polo game played in the U.S. and housing the Tennis Hall of Fame. It also has the first carousel ever built in the U.S.
• It is the smallest state with the biggest name... officially 'Rhode Island and Providence Plantations'. Interestingly, there are no plantations remotely close to RI.
  
• Rhode Island is home to the largest bug in the world. Seriously.

• The X-Games began in Rhode Island in 1995.
• The Talking Heads started in Rhode Island.
  
• Rhode Island is home to toy-maker Hasbro, creators of such childhood wonders as Lincoln Logs, Cabbage Patch Kids, Mr. Potato Head, Easy Bake Oven, GI Joe, Transformers, Nerf, and Lite-Brite.
• We have the highest rate of illicit drug use in the country, and the highest rate of individuals who drink. Accordingly, Rhode Island made medicinal marijuana legal. We're really fun to hang out with.
• We get all four seasons, and we bitch and moan about each one of them.