What makes America great?

[GojuBrian]

I'd like to start a topic stating everything that makes America great. Seems like alot of USA bashing going on and I don't like it, especially since I live here and think it's still the greatest nation on earth.

I'll start a list and the following posters can add one or two POSITIVE aspects that make America great.

1. America is great because we have a very diverse culture. From latino, black, indian,white, you name it and we have it. All are equal and all are welcome in the great U.S. of A!

2. America is great because I have the freedom to practice my religion without oppression! I can freely express that Jesus is Lord in the middle of Walmart if I want to.

next......

 

[micaela]

All are equal and all are welcome in the great U.S. of A!

Sorry, but I am going to have to disagree with that statement. I agree USA is a great nation that many of us take for granted. I mean we should consider ourselves lucky just to be born here. However, according to several social experiments that I have researched, there are many U.S. citizens who are not very welcoming to minorities such as Hispanics and Middle Easterns. Yes, the USA is supposed to welcome every nationality and we are all supposed to be equal, but are we? From personal experience and from what I have seen, we are not. As a minority in this country, Myself and my family has faced discrimination and at times felt very unwelcomed in my own home country. My husband is not from this country, he is, i guess, an unwelcomed Mexican intruder, that's how we feel at times anyway, but my point is I think that minorities don't have it as easy as the majority group here in America, at least not where I'm from.

But yes, I do enjoy the many freedoms we do have here. THANKS AMERICA!!!

 

[GojuBrian]

You are ruining my thread. :mad

When I was going through chemotherapy all of my hair fell out. Some jerkface at walmart called me a skinhead cracker. I guess that's America's fault too, right? :nag

Can we get back to topic and keep all the I hate America complaints in the other threads and in the whitehouse speeches?

 

[ChattyMute]

You are ruining my thread. :mad

When I was going through chemotherapy all of my hair fell out. Some jerkface at walmart called me a skinhead cracker. I guess that's America's fault too, right? :nag

Can we get back to topic and keep all the I hate America complaints in the other threads and in the whitehouse speeches?

Calm down. She didn't say she hated America, from what I read, quite the opposite. Just that all isn't as perfect as you made it seem in the first post.

2. America is great because I have the freedom to practice my religion without oppression*! I can freely express that Jesus is Lord in the middle of Walmart if I want to.

*from the government. I've met some citizens in power in the south who have fired someone just because they were not Christian. You can freely express whatever you like in this country (within reason, you can't go shouting "bomb" in a theater), but there are some instances in some parts of the states where you will be treated differently because of it (not in a good way) and in some cases oppressed.

I'm not saying I hate America. I love it, but it has its flaws like every other country. And you shouldn't make it seem like everything is perfect as you did in the first post.

 

[GojuBrian]

This is the What's great about America thread, not the why America is perfect or not perfect thread.

:mad

Calm down. She didn't say she hated America, from what I read, quite the opposite. Just that all isn't as perfect as you made it seem in the first post

Please point out the word "perfect" in my initial post.

I'm not saying I hate America. I love it, but it has its flaws like every other country. And you shouldn't make it seem like everything is perfect as you did in the first post.

Again, please point that out, OR is that just how you read it?

It's supposed to be a list about what makes America great, but apparently that is too hard anymore.

I wonder why so many are in such a hurry to move here? I wonder why so many are willing to die to defend her, including me.



Good grief!

 

[handy]

One thing that makes America great is that it truly is the land of opportunity. You can be born a person of color, mixed race during a time when that was truly taboo, be abandoned by your dad, dragged all over the place by your mom, be raised in what many would consider truly chaotic circumstances...

and still become President. :yes

No one, nobody at all, is going to be free of prejudicial treatment by others. This is the big misconception that most "minorities" have: that if you are white, then you never face prejudice and that simply isn't true at all.

But, that is just human sinfulness, and there isn't a country on the face of this planet where one will be guaranteed to be fully free of that. Live and breath on this planet, and you are bound to be affected by it.

Here in America though, one truly can overcome poverty, prejudice, poor education and succeed, sometimes succeed by becoming astronomically rich.

I wonder how many other countries have that kind of opportunity. Every nation has it's rich and it's poor and most have a middle class. But, it seems that in many other countries, most die pretty much in the same range they're born in. Here in America, it really is different.

Take my mom's cousin for example: His parents, my great-uncle and great aunt, were sharecroppers, real life "Grapes of Wrath" folks, who really did leave Oklahoma during the Great Depression, and work picking various crops from the fields of Central California. And, even though they weren't "minorities", they faced real prejudices and hardship, including have their daughter die for lack of medical attention. My mom's cousin was born in the back of a truck.
He grew up to become a judge. He's now retired, a man of more than comfortable means.

 

[Rick W]

Calm down. She didn't say she hated America, from what I read, quite the opposite. Just that all isn't as perfect as you made it seem in the first post.

agreed

I myself have been discriminated against. As an "outsider". Even in the same city!
"You're from the east side aren't you?"
/uh oh.
Nor is it any secret some in the southern states are still fighting the Civil War. Lived in NC for 5 years.
"Where you from boy?"
/uh oh.
Lived in Utah for 14 years.
"You're not a Mormon are you?"
/uh oh.
During my secular years...having a beer in a biker bar.
"Who owns that rice burner parked outside?"
/uh oh.
That one was a bit more serious than most
I'm laughing about it now but...
The beer was warm anyway. :gah

Prejudice isn't going to go away as long as people are people. It's a fact of life. We can strive toward the ideal of no prejudice, no discrimination but again, it's an ideal. The struggle against prejudice/discrimination will be ongoing but when that struggle adds fuel to the fire then it's being taken to extremes. There's such a thing as being over-sensitive.

 

[GojuBrian]

You agree that I made America "seem all perfect" in my initial post Rick?

I thought I made it clear. I thought infact that I was specific in why I started this thread and its intentions.

I'd like to start a topic stating everything that makes America great

I'll start a list and the following posters can add one or two POSITIVE aspects that make America great.

Now ,here we are......

 

[Rick W]

next......

I have the freedom to fail, learn and succeed.
I can go anywhere I care to go, across state lines, without showing my "papers".
I used to hunt (I'm from Pennsylvania) and I was an avid paper cutter... wheel guns.
I can walk the streets of any city at any time without being questioned by the law.
I can voice my opinion for or against the government without fear of arrest.

 

[Mysteryman]

I believe that the USA is great for many reasons.

I am innocent until found guilty -- A person can rob a bank, and is still innocent until found guilty.

My freedom, even if distorted at times, is still freedom.

I have certain rights , even though certain conditons hang over us . Pay your taxes ! :yes

We are allowed to vote, the freedom to send certain people to govern over us, and we can also vote them out in the next election.

The laws of the land are made to protect everyone. The rich as well as the poor.

If you feel your rights have been violated, you have a right to defend your rights. Even if it costs you your entire life savings in doing so. You still have the right !

We have the right to either believe our weather man , or not believe him/her.

 

[Rick W]

We have the right to either believe our weather man , or not believe him/her.

:biglol

 

[paisley]

I don`t mean for this to sound trite but I truly believe what is great about America is God. God shining through the people, God in the foundations of the country, used to and still in some settings God in the educational system, God reflected in the legal/judicial system, God reflected in many businesses, etc.

I live overseas where less than 1/2% of the people are Christians but we have the freedom to proclaim God in any store parking lot, street, park, etc. So the freedom isn`t what makes American great. It is the history behind the freedom. The freedom is there because God freed a group of persecuted Christians who deeply loved God and just wanted the freedom to worship Him. He brought them out of a religiously oppressive land to America where they could freely worship Him.

Likewise I`m in a nonChristian land where we have freedom to vote. So voting isn`t what makes America great. What makes America great is when Americans stand up and vote for Godly values and people who stand for Godly principals, when God is a reflected in the voting booths.

I could go on and on. What Americans think is unique or special about America is the same stuff other countries have. What makes America shine is Godly Americans and the things God has blessed in America. America is just another country without God. Freedom, other countries have it and some have more than America believe it or not. Diversity, other countries have it and some countries are more open to diversity than America. Opportunity. Other countries have it. The list goes on and on. God alone is what makes America great.

 

[Ken R]

America is great because we Americans are great. We are America, and if every American
was to disappear off planet earth, America would still be great because of what we built
it from. God bless America.

 

[ChattyMute]

This is the What's great about America thread, not the why America is perfect or not perfect thread.

:mad

Calm down. She didn't say she hated America, from what I read, quite the opposite. Just that all isn't as perfect as you made it seem in the first post

Please point out the word "perfect" in my initial post.

[quote:3n73pcdf]I'm not saying I hate America. I love it, but it has its flaws like every other country. And you shouldn't make it seem like everything is perfect as you did in the first post.

Again, please point that out, OR is that just how you read it?

It's supposed to be a list about what makes America great, but apparently that is too hard anymore.

I wonder why so many are in such a hurry to move here? I wonder why so many are willing to die to defend her, including me.



Good grief![/quote:3n73pcdf]

That was the impression it gave off. That's why I used the word "seem". I was just pointing out that what you think makes America great also has its flaws. And I still think you need to calm down a bit.

The same way you don't want to see people bashing America; I don't want to see people get all arrogant about America being the "greatest nation on Earth".

But to add to the list:
I can choose my own education and career path.
I have the opportunity to raise my status from where I was born as well as lower it.
As a woman, I am allowed to make decision in society, vote, and work in the job I desire to.

 

[Drew]

I live here and think it's still the greatest nation on earth.

There is a big difference between loving where you live and claiming "its the greatest nation on earth". Whether you realize it or not, when you say the latter, you are sewing the seeds of division by impllcitly claiming that you, as a people, are superior to others.

Even if that we true, it is not the right attitude. Fine, say America is great. I think there is truth to that. But a little humility please. A lot of we non-Americans live in nations that enjoy as much freedom and prosperity as you do. Do we go around saying we are the greatest nation on the earth? Well, maybe some Canadians / Swedes / French / Norwegians do that.

But it is not a healthy attitudes - it divides.

 

[Drew]

One thing that makes America great is the spirit of innovation that one often sees.

 

[handy]

I think that any nation's people should be able to think that their nation, whatever nation that might be, is the greatest nation on earth. Drew, if you were to claim that Canada was the greatest nation on earth, it wouldn't offend me in the least. You should be able to believe that about your home.

Sadly, there are some nations, that no matter how proud or humble the folks might be, they cannot believe that about their own nation. But, most nations that have functioning societies should be able to engender within it's citizens a certain amount of national pride and identity.


And, I agree with you about American innovation. Any schmoe with an idea can see it through to fruition here.

 

[Drew]

I think that any nation's people should be able to think that their nation, whatever nation that might be, is the greatest nation on earth. Drew.

I appreciate what you are getting at, but I think the effect is always divisive. When someone says "my nation is the best", they setting themselves up as superior to others - that's what it means to be "the best".

Imagine I said my race is the best race on the planet. Can you image the fits of apoplexy that would ensue?

 

[handy]

When I was in Ireland, we were a mixed group of Americans, Irish and English. On a road trip we got into a friendly "argument" of which of the three was the "greatest". It was a lot of fun and no one's feathers were ruffled. It need not be divisive. At the end of the day, when we were sitting together in a little local pub on the western coast of Ireland, as the sun was setting and a local band with a phenomenal vocalist were going through some old and new folk songs, we were all in agreement that Ireland was the greatest nation on earth! :nod

 

[Vince]

We've been good to the Jews. And God is blessing us because of it.