This country is NOT the greatest on Earth, but I like it here mostly

While I like living in the USA, mostly, I see that there are severe problems and I am working towards making things better here. I do not agree that it is the greatest or best in the world, but I like it here mostly and am continuing to work on improving it.

I am fighting and working to help make this country be more humane. Yes, there are serious problems. Economic, election, social, education, health, enviromental, foreign relations, miltary problems, etc etc etc etc etc etc. I do not think it is the Greatest Country on Earth because that is a term that means nothing. What is "best" or "greatest"? Best health care? Ability to disagree and speak out against our government? Most humane treatment of ALL citizens and people in the world? Some of these the USA might be doing ok with, some not. Some "freedoms" are NOT unique to the USA, are found in many countries around the world. "Best", or even acceptable do not rule out the need to continue working on problems.

Perhaps there are enough "bests" for you to consider this the absolute Best Country In The World. I am glad for you. But for me, it is not necessarily the Best or the Greatest, but good enough for me to keep living here and to keep working on improving.

on earth.

because they sure want to get in.

I have only been to Canada, so I really don't know. Oh, and Mexico. I have to admit I would not want to live in Mexico.

And I guess it all depends on what your definition of "best" is, huh?

was born and raised in England. His kids are about to be teenagers and he is thinking about raising them in one of those countries instead of here.

just an observation.

who constantly complain about life there and threaten to come here.

The grass is always greener...

into Britain, France, Germany, and Switzerland as well, not to mention Canada (Toronto seems as mixed to me as Geneva or NYC). If you come from a third world country then many industrial Nations do, indeed, offer a bit more opportunity. The odd thing is that many people I've met from countries like Brazil, India, and even China are considering going back to their home nations. They aren't fond of the social climate in America (rudeness, shallowness and materialism), and the "American dream" has yet to materialize for them.

Personally I wouldn't mind moving to Britain, New Zealand, or Switzerland-but immigration to those countries is very, very tough-especially without a fat bank account or unique skills.

"People's History of the U.S." He talks about all the Irish and Italian immigrants who went back to their home countries after the civil war and during the 20s and 30s. There were something like 50,000 Italians and Eastern Europeans going the other way one year early in the 20th century. Somehow I don't remember seeing that in the history textbooks I read in high school. Just another way ignorance feeds nationalism.

returning because of the famine. There was a movement for a while, to get Grandma back to the old country to die. My own father in law almost returned to Germany. He went over there to visit and make plans but decided that it had changed too much.

It is in the history textbooks, but they didn't make a big deal of it because compared to the millions (40 million at Ellis Island alone) it was a relatively small number.

The words to this song haunt me:

On the first day on January,
Eighteen ninety-two,
They opened Ellis Island and they let
The people through.
And the first to cross the threshold
Of that isle of hope and tears,
Was Annie Moore from Ireland
Who was all of fifteen years.

CHORUS:

Isle of hope, isle of tears,
Isle of freedom, isle of fears,
But it's not the isle you left behind.
That isle of hunger, isle of pain,
Isle you'll never see again
But the isle of home is always on your mind.

In a little bag she carried
All her past and history,
And her dreams for the future
In the land of liberty.
And courage is the passport
When your old world disappears
But there's no future in the past
When you're fifteen years

Chorus

When they closed down Ellis Island
In nineteen fourty-three,
Seventeen million people
Had come there for sanctuary.
And in Springtime when I came here
And I stepped onto it's piers,
I thought of how it must have been
When you're fifteen years.

that the people who are obsessed with the idea of America being "no. 1" have usually never been out of the country and are geniunely surprised to find that many other countries have a high standard of living as well as citizens who don't necessarily want to make a beeline for the States. When I moved to the UK, in my youthful ignorance I initially assumed that everyone would prefer to live in the USA if they could - how very, very, very immature and wrong I was! America is a prime vacation destination, but I've met very few people who would rather live there in the long term. Instead, places like Australia, Canada and New Zealand are at the top of the list of preferred countries.

My mother was one of those people who believed that the entire world would prefer American life if only they were able to emigrate. The first occasion she visited me in London, every time she spoke with a British person she never failed to make remarks about how superior the United States was. ("You should move to America, you'd love it, it's much nicer than England" - honestly, she really did say things like that.) Needless to say, this wasn't well received, but my mother was completely unable to see the merits of any other place outside of the USA. She had heard "we're no. 1" so often in her life that it colored her view of the entire rest of the world, even when reality came into conflict with her beliefs.

lets make it better.

A place does not have to be the best, the greatest for me. There are things I like and things I heartily disapprove of, think are bery bad and/or damaging. There are things I am working on in the USA to make it better. I do not feel I need to live in the best or greatest place since these are value judgements, can lead to not working on things (since we are the greatest already), and it leads to polarization (us vs them, only 1 can be the best). So, yes, let's keep working on where we are, and keep trying to improve things rather than arguing subjective value things like who is greatest.

Peace. u.p.

I think that this is the best country to, but it is just imho. imho.

take care, give care.

perfectly happy lives in other countries. Are we the only ones obsessed with having to be on top? I wonder how much it costs us.

I am in agreement here, thank you.

As someone from N.Ireland, I wouldnt want to live anywhere else. :thumbsup:

- Schopenhauer

A sentiment I heartily agree with. I've been to a number of other countries. In all of them, one can be as "free" as anywhere else - if you have money enough.

As George Orwell pointed out - "Some animals are more equal than others". And, what makes them "more equal" or "more free" is either money or power. Which usually go hand in hand.

"we are the best! we are the greatest!" strike me as psuedo patriotism. Every place has good things, bad things, things unique, things common. Why does it have to be like a game, where 1 place is the "greatest"? This thinking can also interfere with trying to improve things. If we are the greatest, why bother?

And I hate to say it, but the while the US has the potential to have the greatest living standards of any country in the world, we do not. This is because of an out of control government that does not appropriate its funds and resources in a proper way. We have an amazing amount of potential in this country, but we are squandering it. You would not believe the type of lives we could be living in if the government was made accountable and functioning properly within its designated jurisdiction. We take 3 steps forward and 5 steps back... not good.

"Because I say so" is good enough for wingnuts, not always so for liberals.

I don't know what the greatest country on earth is, but I don't care about living in a "great" country. I care about living in a just country with clean water and air, without gaping poverty against obscene wealth. The US is so far from that ideal, it's not even funny.

Seem to have been a bunch of USAisthegreatest topics recently and I wanted to give another response, a different take on it. Thank you.

It is refreshing to read that there are some Americans that admit that their country may not necessarily be the greatest. I live in Australia and have never traveled overseas. I love my country and enjoy the lifestyle it has to offer. That is probably exactly how you feel about your country.

Unfortunately, we have extremely bad governments at the moment, but hopefully that may only be a temporary inconvenience. Bush has done a lot of damage to your international image while ruining your economy at the same time. Pretty good double act.

Howard has sold off our most lucrative assets to private enterprise, created a situation where we now have working poor and has made us a target to terrorism so that he could brown-nose with Bush.

I think that flag-waving patriotism, religion and greed are the main courses of war.

I would never say the U.S. is the greatest country in the world. I think that is a B.S. ranking. There are many ways of measuring what a country has to offer.

I'm proud of the U.S. constitution and the idea of the U.S., yet so angry and disappointed that so many millions of Americans are willing to flush that document down the toilet and embrace ignorance, corporatism, rabid jingoism and nutty religious dogma.

As for comparing countries, the U.S. falls behind in many important categories (healthcare, gap between rich and poor, infant mortality, etc.)

Sort of cozy-like - a whole continent to yourself, with its own unique animals and landscape. And people there seem to be generally happy. IOW, at least I have not heard of riots and stuff like that. Nor a lot of weather disasters.

It has everything positive in common with Britain/Canada/US plus its own twists for being in the S. hemisphere, like the Christmas customs having some differences because Christmas is in summer.

I know I am generalizing, but Australians seem to have a humor about them that Am/Can/Brits don't have.

are working to make it better. I think that flag-waving patriotism and "we are #1! Hurrah for us vs you!" are similar, and extremism, fundamentalism and greed are the main causes of fear, hatred and war.

You are dead on, uppityperson. You put exactly how I feel into words. :thumbsup:

And those are the ways that matter the most to me. But im just a big silly optimist. For some people's preferences, they might think that another country was better. I am sure that Fidel thinks that Cuba is the best country in the world. But then again, he has got himself a pretty good situation too.