Is there anything good about the US?

I'm disheartened. Can we have just one thread that only addresses why this country is great, or must we bash our homeland at every turn? What kind of country raises people who feel smug, uber PC, superior at the delightful, gleeful expense of beating the shit out of the best place on earth freedom-wise,the very place that afforded these freedoms?

What caused us to be so ungrateful? Do you ever feel sorry, have you ever lived elsewhere, when you bitch is there any part of you that feels ashamed and self-indulgent?

On edit: Typo

:shrug:

Our government doesn't have to do this shit:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2026891

"Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one."
Thomas Paine

--are "America"? Hell, their headquarters are increasingly in the Bahamas and Dubai and suchlike, far away from the rest of us poor saps who just live here.

Suchlike....that is life.

Railroad decisions partly -- 1800s, afterward they morphed into overlords here.

--benefitting nobody but a few at the top, thankyewverymuch. If we were regulating corporations adequately, that would be different. But we aren't.

And there are lots of places more free than the US.

No offense to those in Canada--that just my personal preference. I couldn't handle such harsh winters. :)

Pre-shred, of course. :cry:

It's disappointment. I'll just speak for myself.

I have a higher opinion of what the United States is supposed to stand for, and am constantly disappointed when it doesn't live up to its billing. We're a nation of individuals, each with the right to believe whatever they'd like.

Unfortunately, in any large enough group, there will be some selfish and hateful people. Sometimes, those people rise to power, and project their beliefs onto a lot of people.

There are so many ways that we could do some amazing things for ourselves, and the rest of the planet. The priorities of shoring up our own house and helping others have lost to blowing up other countries, stealing from other countries, bullying other countries, and of course now treating many citizens like criminals without cause.

These aren't the hallmarks of a country that instills pride. Hence the number of upset posts you see.

There are lots of wonderful people here, there are lots of wonderful people elsewhere. We're no better and no worse than the other people around us. The USA has a KKK. How that's possible in the year 2007 is beyond me. But we also have literally millions of people who volunteer and help other people. The KKK doesn't make the USA a bad place. It just makes those people assholes.

Same thing goes for Iran, Russia, Venezuela, Cuba, France, China...

I love it here. I just hate to see the ideals trashed over power and money by so few in power.

That's my take.

The ones being ungrateful are the ones who are pissing away this nation's great heritage, trampling on its values and ideals, and dishonoring all the noble ancestors who gave their lives in every way possible to build up this nation into what it became. These people who are at the helm of the ship of state have no decency, no self-respect, and no honor and deserve nothing less than our full and unremitting scorn for what they have done, for the harms inflicted on this great nation, for the repeated dishonors to this nation's pride, reputation, and dignity and worse yet have done so in the fashion of cowards skulking in dark corners in the shadows waiting for the unwary passerby to strike without warning. It is not our country I have scorn for, it is for those who have dishonored it, and those honorless swine whose deeds need to be cleansed, purged, burned, blasted, and sponged from this nation's great name before we can begin moving forward to fulfill the promise of this country.

Until that time, there can be only war.

War for Honor.

War for Truth.

War for Justice.

Without mercy or relent until there is either victory or defeat, no compromise, no prisoners, no quarter.

even if the ground water is radioactive.

Mostly - we remember we are the United States -

And we saved the world once -

That is who we are in the end.

Joe

I'll ask to be subtracted from the greater we on that one, thanks but I don't deserve any of that.

You really think you have no interest do you??

Who do you think might be rolling over in their graves right now?? To fight for you to

say you don't care?? I am sure that is what they had on their mind as they were bleeding.

Joe

I am not at all sure that WWII saved the world. I am pretty sure that it shuffled the hegemonic forces around the globe. Sometimes leaving the winners in a worse position than they were, sometimes leaving those they exploited under a different heel of exploitation. And in some cases leaving people to be placed under entirely new tyranny.

In short it seems odd to me to make broad statements about WWII having saved the world. The postwar years demonstrated quite mixed results, notwithstanding that fascist domination of Europe would have made a different Europe, the world still ended up with postwar fascist/phalangist movements in postwar South American, and Asia.

Consequently, I can't say my father who was a D-day veteran and his various brothers really saved the world. I can say that the change in European nations ability to hold colonies certainly contributed to my participation in the conflict in Vietnam...an episode that from a participants inspection didn't save much. And I am pretty sure that my effort in SE Asia did little to "save" the world.

And we've saved the world more than once. In fact, everytime something goes wrong...look to the US. If we fix it, we should have butted out. If we don't fix it, we should have butted out. Same Same.

No health care, no child care, horrible safety net, horrible labor laws, crazy sob's with their guns blaring, death penalty, locking everybody up at the drop of a hat, global resource exploiters, privatizing water for chrissake...

wake up. There are plenty of places better to live than this country. And yes, if I could go I would.

We saved the world - don't you think our country is something we better fight for??

Joe

--which was a good thing, of course. The one thing worse than being an imperial power is living under some other foreign imperial power.

Not only that, but we are NOT free here in the United States. Not anymore.

We are a people.

None of the words or labels that * & Co put on things are meaningless or harmless.

Take No Child Left Behind-which is in fact leaving children behind. I could go on and on, but I won't.

My "homeland" is Hawaii. The Nazi undertones are so unreal, almost taste like musubi.

What are you not free to do?

That's been the Dems' problem for far too long. We've let the Repukes lay claim to patriotism, the flag, etc., and it's time for us to TAKE THIS COUNTRY BACK. We've got to vote these bastards out and restore some sanity to America.

Dissent is patriotic and necessary if we want the change we seek to TAKE THIS COUNTRY BACK. That's what I'm saying.

I feel ashamed that I've been sitting here for the last twenty minutes
trying to come up with something nice to say but I cant.
Now I'm sad.
Thanks alot......

Our Constitution, abolitionists, union organizers, Mother Jones, Joe Hill, Martin Luther King, Jr., suffragists, Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Ida Wells, muckrackers, Upton Sinclair, the Stonewall Rebellion, civil rights activists, jazz, rock, hippies, SDS, the Sewer Socialists of Milwaukee, agricultural co-ops, Woody Guthrie, and many, many more.

What about - Isaac Asimov, Carl Sagan, Al Gore, Jimmy Carter, Jesse Jackson, Ted Kennedy, John Edwards, John Kerry, Joe Conason, Molly Ivins, Eric Alterman, Paul Krugman, Bruce Springsteen, Thom Hartman, Al Franken, and The Dixie Chicks, among others.

And Howard Zinn? And Gloria Steinem? And Bella Abzug?

But he's almost been dead for 20 years.

You are in it. I.......... I love you Truthiness. Now slip me some tongue.

I like Ashley Judd.



She's pro-choice, too.

The country is much greater than many give it credit for.

This is a great place to live, despite the feckless weasels who currently infest the White House and Congress.

I've only ever lived in one other country, and it sure wasn't better than here. If I thought I'd enjoy another country more, I'd most likely move there.

That's why this current government upsets me so...because it's trying to destroy everything that's good about this nation.

There's a lot that's great about America, and as soon as we get the Repukes out of power, we'll be able to start enjoying the good things that America has to offer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJoVgkeAYYY

some good scenery here, but too much focus on the singers, still better sounding, to me, than the Ray Charles version (and the first video on that is quite militaristic)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JXWXhteJ30&mode=related&search=

Of course, a liberal would never sing that song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMYCj3IJ_VQ&mode=related&search=

We're just a bunch of smug, superior, ungrateful liberals who get off, gleefully, at beating the shit out of the very bestest place on earth. Sucks to be us.

That should be something to hang our hat on.

:woohoo:

Gettin slow, I think I'd better get to bed. Got home at about 2am & saw the great news.

I have posted on about 5 blogs & I'm TIRED. I wanted to be the first to post the news.

This is great for America at a time when we really needed something good.

I suppose if I had to say what I like about this country I can give my own list...it's a little tongue-in-cheek, but sincere:

The 1st amendment, Univision, Social Security, Vanessa Hudgens, Hilary Duff, true crime books, a variety of different bibles, Miranda rights, Crab Cove in Alameda, Native American Health Center, The Simpsons, proximity to Mexico,HP Lovecraft, the freedom to be what you want to be and go where you want, interesting criminals and such (Gary Heidnik), the large Mexican-American communities where I live, and probably some others too. :-)

power. There are a lot of good & even some great things about America. There is much room for improvement also. If it is the best country on the planet can be debated but that is purely subjective so I won't even try to do so.

Is the fact that we have been able to recognize and see the evils
that befall us domestically, and address them, if not yet wipe them
out. Many other countries have tried, few have succeeded. Most other
countries have a lot of historical baggage weighing them down. As a
relatively young country we have less of that, but also less of a
tradition to adhere to, as well. Our Constitution is a shining beacon
but, as we have seen recently, if the guardians of that Constitution
(i.e. the Supreme Court) ally themselves with those who would pervert it
for their own narrow ends, then it is imperiled.

But even with all the depressing cancers thrust upon us since Nixon and
Reagan, not to mention Cheneybush, the fact remains that along with a lot
of garbage from us, the world has been inspired by our selflessness (WW I,
WW II), our magnanimity (Marshall Plan), our music (jazz, rock), and the
sheer physical beauty of the nature to be found on our continent.

When we raise our voices in protest and harsh criticism, it is to protest
those who would pervert and destroy those positive aspects of our country,
not to put them down. If some express a desire to leave, it is in despair
of ever overcoming the dark forces of greed and ignorance who stand to profit
from the status quo of our imperfections, not due to an acceptance that those
imperfections symbolize what we are.

diverse in belief and color and culture and language. I put a lot of my hopes in that diversity.

We're geographically large and diverse as well- and beautiful.

It's so Hitlerish.:( That's the repuke's favorite term for the U.S. It makes me ill when I hear it from ANYONE.