5 Reasons why America is great.

[Galbally]

Okay, we have been having our seasonal discussions about Iraq, and as usual the U.S. has been getting hammered (which is rightly so), but its important to remember that despite all these current problems, America is a great country and here's why.

1. It is above all other things, a free country, ruled by law, in which men and women are given the freedom to express themselves as they see fit, choose their leaders, and hold their own system accountable. This is not the case in China, Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Libya, Cuba, and various other totalitarian despotisms I could name around the world, who are always quick to critize the "imperialists" (try holding real elections for your people Fidel, and see how you get on).

2. In terms of America's position as the most powerful economic and military power in history, and the opportunities that this provides the people in Washington to do as they see fit, the rest of the world is quite lucky that in general they are quite restrained and responsible most of the time, and when things get out of hand, the leaders and parties involved tend to lose elections. Unlike the soviet union, where you had to wait for the leader to die of old age before anything changed.

3. For Europeans at least the difference in approach between the U.S. and the Soviet Union was very easy to assess, just have a chat with someone who lived in East Germany, and someone who lived in West Germany post 1945. Then you will understand why for Europeans at least, the Americans are our friends and good neighbours across the Atlantic whose basic political ideas we share and admire, and are fundamentally the right ones for us, even though we are not always in agreement about everything. We should give them the courtesy they have earned by at least listening to the arguments, and not patronizing or lecturing them in a juvenile manner.

4. Americans right now, are angry, hurt, scared, and things seem bad. Don't forget that if someone flew a load of planes into your major cities and killed thousands of your people, called for your complete destruction constantly, and continually attempted to launch murderous attacks to make your populations afraid and supine, you would also be very annoyed and expect your government to do something about it, or at least you should, because thats what happening everywhere else as well, we are all under attack, whether we realize it or not, not just from terrorist suicide bombers either, and this isn't just about America and Osama Bin Laden, so lets not kid ourselves.



So, I hope that makes my feelings clear, I am not a unquestioning, pro-Bush republican American, I am a European, an Irish Citizen, and I can see quite clearly that for all its problems and issues, America remains a great country, and also our friend here in Europe. That doesn't mean that Europeans should not talk to Americans about whats going on, and where we disagree, as we need to talk, big time, things are bad, but we should talk to each other with respect, courtesy and friendship, because we are friends and family, and friends and family need each other when things go wrong.

[Carl44]

great post mr g ... i agree with you

[Accountable]

Thanks, G.

[Bez]

Diuretic;551600 wrote: "What have the Romans ever done for us?"



Oh sorry, wrong era



America isn't perfect, nowhere is, it has much wrong with its society but that's the business of Americans (I reserve my right to critique foreign policy). But we share many of the same values (with allowance for quite real cultural differences). If we're going to have one superpower than I want it to be the US and not the others that are lining up.


Yep...I agree.

[RedGlitter]

Thank you, Galbally. That is very much appreciated by this American.

[buttercup]

Well thats refreshing to see, makes a nice change from lets blame America for everything

[jennyswan]

Bez;551607 wrote: Yep...I agree.


Me too, and on a more personal level some of the nicest buddies I have made online and in real life are American. They have all been kind and honest and open minded. :-4

[YZGI]

Soberano;551575 wrote: :yh_clap :yh_clap Very well put Galbally.



I would just like to thank em for giving us Tiger Woods if you don't mind.
You can have him. He kills us in the Ryder Cup.:wah:

[cherandbuster]

Galbally;551551 wrote: America is a great country and here's why.


Gee Gally

You forgot to mention me :p

[sunny104]

buttercup;551619 wrote: Well thats refreshing to see, makes a nice change from lets blame America for everything


I'll second that! :-6

[Galbally]

cherandbuster;551824 wrote: Gee Gally

You forgot to mention me :p


No, I just left out reason number 5 on the list, but you know what it is C&B, you know. heheheheheheh.

[Galbally]

YZGI;551718 wrote: You can have him. He kills us in the Ryder Cup.:wah:


Thats entirely true, hes brilliant as an indivdual player, but not in a team, mental really init???

[Galbally]

Just for the record, the fifth best thing about America is Cher&Buster, I rang around and thats the general consensus, a true american ambassaor of peace, charm, and foxyness. I salute you my good woman, cue the music, attention!

[cherandbuster]

Galbally;552345 wrote: Just for the record, the fifth best thing about America is Cher&Buster, I rang around and thats the general consensus, a true american ambassaor of peace, charm, and foxyness. I salute you my good woman, cue the music, attention!


*blushes tremendously but secretly loves it* :p

[Accountable]

cherandbuster;553066 wrote: *blushes tremendously but secretly loves it* :p
Secretly?? :wah:

[AnnaE]

Hmmm...so you think this "let's blame America for everything" thing is completley uncalled for?

Because I don't.

[RedGlitter]

As would I.

[freemind]

I think America is great for completely different reasons. 1. Our freedom of thought has not yet been limited and therefore, we produce the world's greatest inventions. 2. Our original Constitution is the greatest Constitution in the world. Now, if we can only get our judges and polititians to stop passing laws to limit it (when they swore to defend it), it would be the greatest country in the world. 3. We are the most generous country in the world. We give more aid to other countries than anyone. Unfortunately, we have to stop giving aid to even dictators, communists, terrorists, etc.. 4. We are free to speak out against our government, even if they do put the protesters out of the way as to be non-effective. 5. We have the best patriotic attitude in the world. That's one thing about those who blindly believe everything the government tells us and conspiracy theorists alike have in common. We're all looking out to better our system and protect it, whether they believe it's from those either foriegn or domestic.

I don't think America is to blame about everything, but I'll second the motion that there is much to blame. Partially because I believe in personal accountability. Why blame others on the stuff we do. But to be on the real subject of this forum, why america is so great, let me make a few comments.

1. It is above all other things, a free country, ruled by law, in which men and women are given the freedom to express themselves as they see fit, choose their leaders, and hold their own system accountable. This is not the case in China, Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Libya, Cuba, and various other totalitarian despotisms I could name around the world, who are always quick to critize the "imperialists" (try holding real elections for your people Fidel, and see how you get on).


It's still a somewhat free country. More in talk than in action. But compared to many other countries (not all), it is considered the great big free one. Even journalists have admitted, when it even comes to the freedom of the press, the United states wasn't listed very close to the number 1 position. We are still free to express ourselves without penalty, as long as you're not influential (see Charlie Sheen, Dixie Chicks, various whistle blowers within the government, etc..) Those countries listed above are obviously NOT free, not even in someone's imagination, so compared to them, we're free by a long shot. But concerning "elections" as mentioned above, there are controlled environments involved in the form of districting/zoning, etc... Not to mention, the candidates are chosen by the parties, you get to pick between whoever they want (whoever obeys party over people). With this scenario in mind, it's no wonder why 75% of our presidents came from the same bloodline as Charlamaign. They are all belonging to secret societies. and some are even directly related (father - son). The Bush clan are the second father-son presidents in the U.S.



2. In terms of America's position as the most powerful economic and military power in history, and the opportunities that this provides the people in Washington to do as they see fit, the rest of the world is quite lucky that in general they are quite restrained and responsible most of the time, and when things get out of hand, the leaders and parties involved tend to lose elections. Unlike the soviet union, where you had to wait for the leader to die of old age before anything changed.


Our economy is at the brink of destruction. We have the world's and HISTORY'S largest debt. Everything we spend money on is called "deficiet spending" because we're spending money that supposed to be paying off debts. Logic will only tell you that can only go on for so long before, uh, it's time to close shop. We do have the world's best military and we are certainly taking advantage of that fact with men and women who swore to DEFEND the United states. Israel has been suffering from Terrorist attacks for decades before the U.S. The U.S. told them to excersise restraint and they have been for the most part, at least better than we have. But, as I understand it, there are current debates over who's really behind the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Remember, who trained and funded the terrorists Al-Qaida in the first place? Why were they allowed to keep training in the U.S. while being on the "watch list"? If we had responsible politicians as #2 above implies, why do we continually have a growing debt? Why are government investigations usually almost always shut down or thwarted before being completed? Where's the accountability in that? They even pass laws protecting our leaders now. President Bush can't even be tried for war crimes others are being tried and punished for in terms of torture that has become suddenly legal. If we have such responsible and accountable leaders, why do presidents keep pardoning each other?

3. For Europeans at least the difference in approach between the U.S. and the Soviet Union was very easy to assess, just have a chat with someone who lived in East Germany, and someone who lived in West Germany post 1945. Then you will understand why for Europeans at least, the Americans are our friends and good neighbours across the Atlantic whose basic political ideas we share and admire, and are fundamentally the right ones for us, even though we are not always in agreement about everything. We should give them the courtesy they have earned by at least listening to the arguments, and not patronizing or lecturing them in a juvenile manner.


Yes, agreed for the most part. Europe and the U.S. are becoming more buddy buddies. Accept we seem to have problems with the French more than any of them as far as the public is concerned. Ironic though, as if it wasn't for them, we wouldn't have had an independent nation from Britain. We made a promise back then to help the French in any war they had, we backed out of that pact as soon as France got involved in a war. We actually didn't make good on that promise until WWII when France was almost anything but existing.

4. Americans right now, are angry, hurt, scared, and things seem bad. Don't forget that if someone flew a load of planes into your major cities and killed thousands of your people, called for your complete destruction constantly, and continually attempted to launch murderous attacks to make your populations afraid and supine, you would also be very annoyed and expect your government to do something about it, or at least you should, because thats what happening everywhere else as well, we are all under attack, whether we realize it or not, not just from terrorist suicide bombers either, and this isn't just about America and Osama Bin Laden, so lets not kid ourselves.


I agree that AmericanS (we the people) are angry, hurt, scared, etc... And I agree that much of the world is experiencing these attacks. BUT, AmericA (the country) advised Israel to practice restraint on their decades of attacks. AmericA trained and funded terrorists, specifically Al-Qaida. AmericA sold nuclear reactors to N. Korea. AmericA sold weapons of mass destruction to Iraq, and even placed Sadaam in power via CIA. The safest thing for countries to do is to not do business with us. We get their money, then their countries. And, we do this with the blood of OUR women and children. Where again is our personal accountability? Why would we sale things like these to communist countries? Dictators? Terrorists? Why do OUR men and women have to pay for these mistakes?

[freemind]

I'm not sure if I understood #4 correctly, but replied to my understanding of it.

[uv_lightmyway]

I love America. I live here. But I have a couple beefs. I don't think that if I criticize something (like the war in Iraq), I should be labeled "unpatriotic" or worse, a "terrorist sympathizer". All Americans are in this together, and we should be able to criticize an action our country takes if we feel it is wrong. Remember, the government serves the people, not the other way around.

I am not thrilled that certain people in positions of power abuse it. I don't believe you should be able to fire Attorneys General or other people simply because they don't tow the party line all of the time.

I think it is wrong to lead your country to war under false pretenses.

[edge2125]

Freemind,

Im sure that while posting your thread you have the best of intentions, but there are many half truths and whole lies within it.

"AmericA trained and funded terrorists, specifically Al-Qaida"

I suppose you are referring to the Russian/Afghanistan war? To imply The U.S. aided Osama or his Al Qaeda thugs in any way, is incorrect. The U.S. and Pakistan, through Operation Cyclone, funded the native Afghan mujahedeen, not the foreign Arab mujahedeen fighters.



"and even placed Sadaam in power via CIA"

I dont even know what to say to that one..To keep it nice, and simple, That isnt true and i have no idea why anyone would make such a claim.

"But, as I understand it, there are current debates over who's really behind the terrorist attacks of 9/11"

There is no debate, unless you wear a tin foil hat. It was Osama and his clan of idiots.

"Our economy is at the brink of destruction."

No it isnt. Not even close. While the economy could be better, you have to remember we are a country at war, on two fronts, and we suffered a devastating hurricane no long ago.



"President Bush can't even be tried for war crimes"



While i dont agree with anyone having immunity, you say this as if he has commited a war crime. He has done no such thing. Read the UN resolution in which we undertook the war. That should clear things up a bit.

[freemind]

I used the word "can't" due to the recent laws passed. Even if he did, he couldn't be tried. I'm not saying he did, but I do know we shouldn't use torture since we used that as one of the excuses to invade Iraq, and we shouldn't lay countries in rumbles over the actions of a few.

I didn't want to turn this into a debate of 9/11 conspiracies, etc.. on this thread, but this is why we think America is great. I didn't necessarily agree with the author of the topic, and listed my own reasons why I thought America was great.

I can love this country without approving of what is being done. And, how can you really say the economy is kicking when we have history's largest debt to pay and it isn't getting any smaller?

[Nomad]

[Pheasy]

My brother is in the British Army. When he was in Iraq he was injured by sniper attack and was sent to hospital prior to be shipped back to the UK. He spent a few days with injured US soldiers in the hospital. This is what he said - the American soldiers have a very different approach to 'survival talk' and what keeps them going in these stressful times - so sometimes people think of this as too loud. He said they were all great soldiers and he could not think of any others he would want to fight alongside! Speaks volumes I think!

Pheasy (from UK living in USA - missing my brothers )

[aristotle]

You left out number 5. I think number 5 is that the US has better beaches, ladies, movies, music, women, wine, games, food, women, stores and women than France.